Published to accompany our Book of the month is our December Acquisitions list, describing the small but select collection of Sydney-related material put together by Andrew Tink while writing his new biography of Lord Sydney here. This is a collection of books and manuscripts associated with Lord Sydney and his forebears, and thus closely associated with the naming of our great city.

Thomas, widely known as Tommy, Townshend, eventually Baron and later Viscount Sydney, was the most significant of the proponents of the plan to send the First Fleet to Botany Bay, and the man for whom Sydney Cove was named by Governor Phillip. As Home Secretary in Pitt's government Sydney was the first to announce George III's decision to send out the First Fleet in August 1786. He was directly responsible for the choice of Phillip to command the fleet and to be the colony's first governor. He took an enlightened view to the penal settlement, and much of the philosophy of government practised by Governor Phillip can be attributed to his influence.

Andrew Tink's collection includes several examples of Sydney's signature, quite rare on the market today, a number of pieces associated with his illustrious forebear the radical Algernon Sidney, and a selection of contemporary publications dealing with the newly-named Sydney Cove.