Journal, etc., of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia (with plates and plans). 1894.

Adelaide: C.E. Bristow, Government Printer, October, 1896.

Foolscap folio, 32 pp., with 13 full page photogravure plates and four larger folding maps and sheets bound in (including the large map measuring 1290 x 1290 mm., and a plan of the Hermannsburg mission measuring 822 x 587 mm.); a fine copy in polished brown half calf by Sangorski, spine label.

The report suppressed by Horn

First edition of 1896 publishing the results of the Horn scientific expedition and completing the series of inland exploration accounts published by government printer Charles Edwin Bristow in Adelaide throughout the 1890s. The verso of the title page lists the cost of printing, revealing that 650 copies were published (of which a significant proportion were withdrawn).

First edition of 1896 publishing the results of the Horn scientific expedition and completing the series of inland exploration accounts published by government printer Charles Edwin Bristow in Adelaide throughout the 1890s. The verso of the title page lists the cost of printing, revealing that 650 copies were published (of which a significant proportion were withdrawn).

The expedition was privately financed by wealthy Adelaide speculator and philanthropist William Austin Horn. When this report appeared by order of the parliament of South Australia, Horn personally requested that it be withdrawn given his rights of ownership of the cartographic and scientific data collected during the expedition. His request was granted, leaving a limited number of copies in circulation.

Winnecke published the results the following year against Horn's wishes using the four maps and sheets lithographed for this parliamentary report, including the impressive map of central Australia.

This is an excellent copy of a scarce book, one of the last nineteenth-century milestones in inland exploration and scientific research. Given the acrimony surrounding the publication of the expedition's findings, this first edition is significant for the inclusion of two images of the members of the expedition. The first portrait is a formal sitting with Horn alongside Winnecke, Baldwin Spencer and the scientists. The second image depicts Horn with his men at the Alice Springs camp, interestingly the group includes two turbaned (and presumably Afghan) cameleers and an Aboriginal companion.

McLaren, 16973; Wantrup, p.270.

Ref: #4106163