A fine presentation copy of this important and influential work on South Australian colonisation, one of the earliest books on South Australia and the first book of Australian interest by the important political economist Torrens.

A fine presentation copy of this important and influential work on South Australian colonisation, one of the earliest books on South Australia and the first book of Australian interest by the important political economist Torrens.

Robert Torrens (1780-1864) was a marine officer who served with some distinction during the Napoleonic Wars, and who had a career-long interest in emigration to Australia, and who at one point even angled for an appointment as Governor of New South Wales. He tried to purchase land in the proposed Swan River colony in 1828, but when that fell through turned his attention to promoting South Australia instead. Torrens' book appeared in mid-1835 and the province of South Australia was formally established the following February. A tireless exponent of settlement and colonisation, his scheme was beset by ruinous land speculation and dilatory management, meaning that the colony collapsed in 1841 and had to be rescued with a loan from the British Parliament, metamorphosising into a crown colony the following year.

This copy has a particularly good association: it was given by Torrens to "Longfield", almost certainly the professor of law at Trinity College Dublin, Mountifort Longfield, an expert in property law and critic of Thomas Malthus. At a later stage the book ended up in the library of the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales and, as a printed label in the front confirms, formed part of the "Collection associated with the name of Sir Henry Parkes".