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ANGAS, George French.
Six views of the Gold Fields of Ophir, at Summerhill and Lewis' Ponds Creeks; drawn from nature and on stone...
Sydney, Woolcott & Clarke, 1851.

Oblong folio, six tinted lithographs, with the leaf of "Description of the Plates", a little dusted and slightly worn at edges, a few corners neatly repointed not affecting text or plates; an excellent copy preserving the original printed upper wrapper, a little marked and rubbed, early ownership annotation at corner, edges neatly restored; cloth box.

Very scarce, the rare and attractive Sydney imprint: the 'first folio of goldfields views published in Australia' (Wantrup). This set of six views was the first and only significant graphic record of the New South Wales goldfields that was to appear.

Ophir, near Bathurst, was the scene of the first major gold rush in Australia. Angas was in New South Wales when news of large discoveries of gold arrived: his views of the hectic activity on the new goldfields are the first visual record of the beginnings of the Australian gold rushes. 'These lithographs are among his most successful artistic productions; carefully composed and delicately, but firmly, executed, making expert use of the technical possibilities of the lithographic process to produce a very pleasing pencil like texture, with subtle highlights in the buff-coloured background…' (John Tregenza, George French Angas, 1980).

A good note in Roger Butler's recent Printed Images in Colonial Australia underlines the significance of Angas' work. Butler writes that Angas had studied lithography in England with Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, a natural history artist, and quickly proved to be adept at the technique. He first arrived in Australia in 1843, touring, sketching, and exhibiting his work in Adelaide and Sydney. He returned to London in 1846 and staged a successful show before publishing his famous South Australia Illustrated. He was back in New South Wales when news of the discovery of gold reached Sydney, and he immediately 'joined one of the first parties that proceeded to the Ophir diggings … crossing the Blue Mountains on foot, and sleeping under a dray at night, in the depth of winter'.

Angas, Butler continues, published the first of the resulting images in Sydney on 19 July 1851. The fresh and lively depictions of life on the goldfields were well-received, and a contemporary review praised their fidelity, calling them 'immeasurably superior to any colonial lithographs we have ever seen'. The entire set became available with the letterpress description and printed wrapper, as here, in October of the same year.

Although exact numbers are not known, the original issue of this work must have been very small. Angas himself wrote to his London publisher with the comment that he could only get around three or four hundred pulls from a stone before it deteriorated in the tough Australian conditions: given that many of the lithographs were purchased separately, it is little wonder that this complete suite of images is now so rare. A London edition followed, with plates newly executed from original sketches Angas forwarded to his publisher.

Wantrup, 239.

Australian: $47,000 (Approx. US $42,986, Euro €31,471) Quote ref.