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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  The Denis Joachim Collection
• Sale Date:
  19 Jun 2016 ~ 2pm - Session 1: Lots 1 - 321
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 10am - Session 2: Lots 322 - 480
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 2pm - Session 3: Lot 481 - 688
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 6pm - Session 4: Lots 689 - 818
• Lot #:
  93
• Lot Description:
  White, John. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales
  with Sixty-five Plates of Nondescript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, curious Cones of Trees and other Natural Productions. Quarto, engraved title with vignette (with closed tear) and owner’s inscription at top of the title, with 65 handcoloured engraved plates, few bird names in the text underlined, the leaves HH4 and KK4 in the second state, bound without terminal advertisements (not issued with all copies) in tree calf of the period, rebacked in period style, the spine gilt; bound in at the end are two rare early engravings: “A non descript Bird found at Botany Bay, from a drawing made on the spot 1792” (actually after the plate of the “New Holland Cassowary” in Phillip’s Voyage); and “The Kangaroo, an Animal found on the Coast of New Holland” (after the plate in the official account of Cook’s first voyage, from the painting by George Stubbs). London, J. Debrett, 1790.
• Notes:
  The much-prized superior issue of the celebrated First Fleet journal with the fine natural history plates on Whatman paper and in original publisher’s handcolouring. In this special handcoloured form, it is the earliest and one of the best and most appealing of Australian colour-illustrated natural history books. John White was the chief surgeon on the First Fleet and Surgeon-general to the settlement, whose most remarkable, if still little recognised, achievement was the minuscule mortality rates among the convicts on the long voyage from England to New South Wales, in what is still one of the largest mass movements of humanity ever undertaken. He continued to overcome severe medical problems in the first settlement, working in atrocious conditions, and even became a pioneer of the use of native Australian plants as medicine. White’s often personal chronicle of the first ten months of settlement includes “many circumstances omitted by Governor Arthur Phillip and others” (Hill). During this time he accompanied Governor Phillip on two journeys of exploration, which he records here together with his own travels in the new colony, as well as the early voyages from Sydney to Norfolk Island. A characteristic ‘scientific gentleman’ of his age, his interest in Australian natural history was the inspiration for the publication of this journal, with its fine plates of Australian birds, reptiles, fish, plants, and animals. It is particularly noteworthy among the First Fleet journals for its scientific descriptions and engravings of many hitherto undescribed species. Publication of this account was arranged by Thomas Wilson, a Fellow of the Linnaean Society, who engaged Dr. George Shaw to provide scientific descriptions of the birds, reptiles and fish, Dr. James Smith to describe the plants, and the celebrated anatomist Dr. John Hunter to describe the animals. The plates were prepared by leading British natural history artists, most notably Sarah Stone and Frederick Nodder, from live and stuffed specimens sent by White as well as from drawings and sketches prepared for him in the colony. Abbey, 605; Ayer/Zimmer, 672; Casey Wood, 626; Davidson, pp. 81-6; Ferguson, 97; Ford, 2495; Hill 2, 1858; Nissen ZBI, 4390; Wantrup, 17.
• Estimate:
  A$10,000 - 15,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Books & Manuscripts

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.