A very good copy of the deluxe issue of the first edition of this famous First Fleet book, in which the plates were coloured by hand. Especially in this form, White's Journal is one of the most beautiful of Australian colour-plate books, and one of the earliest and most attractive Australian bird books.

A very good copy of the deluxe issue of the first edition of this famous First Fleet book, in which the plates were coloured by hand. Especially in this form, White's Journal is one of the most beautiful of Australian colour-plate books, and one of the earliest and most attractive Australian bird books.

Published by Debrett's, the great rival of Stockdale (who had literally just issued the official account by Governor Phillip), the book was printed with the support of White's friend and patron Thomas Wilson Esq., recently shown to have been a wealthy apothecary and natural history collector. The book was always geared towards bird-fanciers in particular, hence the suite of wonderful plates, chiefly by Sarah Stone, then the leading ornithological artist working in London.

John White was chief surgeon of the First Fleet, a complex and challenging role which he undertook with great success. His journal, sent home to England at the end of 1788, includes a description of the voyage from London, with detailed accounts of the stops at Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town, including unusually interesting and full comments on the convicts under his charge.

In 1788 White was appointed Surgeon-General of New South Wales and his book records his experiences during almost the first full year ashore in Sydney. In 1790 he established the colony's first Hospital that comprised a series of tents erected on the west side of Sydney Cove in the vicinity of the present day Maritime Services Building. This was soon replaced by a wooden prefabricated hospital transported to the colony in the convict transport Lady Juliana. The convict artist Thomas Watling, on his arrival in 1792, was immediately seconded by the government to John White. White and Watling worked closely together in this hospital building, and such was Watling's artistic ability that their collaboration became the most powerful source of colonial art for several years.

White was a keen amateur naturalist and after arriving at Port Jackson found time to accompany Phillip on two journeys of exploration as well as making many forays into the bush on his own account. Although a fierce critic of the entire project of settlement, none of his private reservations made it into the published book.

Despite some private criticism by influential figures such as Sir Joseph Banks, the book was an immediate success on publication, with subscribers alone accounting for seven hundred copies, and it is now considered a travel and ornithological classic by a medical voyager. The book also cemented White's relationship with many of the key figures of the scientific establishment, notably through the lengthy printed appendix in the book, which includes essays John Hunter, the scientist, surgeon and zoologist, Sir James Edward Smith, founder of the Linnean Society, and the naturalist George Shaw.

White's interest in natural history continued until he left New South Wales in December 1794, but very little of his later writing survives. It is almost certain that White was a good artist himself, not least because the small vignette on the title-page is said to be after one of his drawings.