A beautiful and special set of this classic First Fleet book, in superb condition. This is an exceptionally handsome copy of the first edition of the complete work, published as two separate volumes four years apart. The first volume is from a very rare issue on thick paper with the engraved vignettes that appear in the text also bound in as separately printed engravings on fold-out sheets.

A beautiful and special set of this classic First Fleet book, in superb condition. This is an exceptionally handsome copy of the first edition of the complete work, published as two separate volumes four years apart. The first volume is from a very rare issue on thick paper with the engraved vignettes that appear in the text also bound in as separately printed engravings on fold-out sheets.

Collins had arrived with the First Fleet as Judge-Advocate and was Secretary to Governor Phillip. His book is a valuable account of the early settlement by an educated and observant resident of ten years, and was the last of the Australian foundation books to be published. This majestic work, often described as the earliest history of Australia as an English colony, contains the most detailed and painstaking of all descriptions of the voyage and first settlement found in any of the early narratives. The book is illustrated with full-page engravings prepared in London by the well-known artist Edward Dayes from sketches done in the colony by the convict artist Thomas Watling which include the first views to have been published of British settlements at Sydney and Parramatta.

The first volume, published in 1798, is scarce today. In this set, as well as having the unusual feature of the extra engravings, it is in the rare thick paper issue (the text block measuring 68 mm.); very few copies are known in this form (apparently unique to the first volume as we have found no record of a thick paper issue of the second volume). A similar example was offered for sale by Maggs Brothers in catalogue 807 (1952): Frank Maggs noted at the time that this was the only such copy he had seen. Ferguson mentions a "large paper" issue but Wantrup was unable to locate an example and speculates that Ferguson may have used "large paper" loosely and may have been referring to a copy similar to the Maggs example.

The second volume, which came out four years after the first and is if anything slightly more difficult to find, "… is of the greatest importance, not only for its detailed chronicle of events but because of its narrative of voyages and expeditions of discovery… The journals of Bass and Flinders are of particular importance since Bass's journal has never been recovered and… the accounts of inland expeditions recorded in the journals of John Price and Henry Hacking are singularly interesting. Quite apart from the exploration interest of these journals, they provide the first report of the existence of the koala, the earliest recorded sighting of a wombat on mainland Australia and the first report of the discovery of the lyrebird, which is for the first time described and illustrated in colour…' (Wantrup).