The complete first edition, published in two volumes four years apart, of David Collins's Account, the earliest history of Australia as an English colony and the most detailed of all descriptions of the voyage and first settlement, illustrated by fine engravings almost certainly after Thomas Watling. In its complete two-volume state, Collins's Account may be the rarest of the First Fleet journals.

The complete first edition, published in two volumes four years apart, of David Collins's Account, the earliest history of Australia as an English colony and the most detailed of all descriptions of the voyage and first settlement, illustrated by fine engravings almost certainly after Thomas Watling. In its complete two-volume state, Collins's Account may be the rarest of the First Fleet journals.

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 almost ten years, and was the last of the Australian foundation books to be published. Often described as the earliest history of Australia as an English colony, it 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 Watling. They are the first published views to show the British settlements at Sydney and Parramatta.

The first volume, published in 1798, is scarce today. For some reason the second volume, which came out four years later, is yet more difficult to find; uniform sets of the two, in fine contemporary condition, are of considerable rarity. "The second volume is of great 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).