Early Experiences in South Australia Hardcover - 1899

Adelaide: E.S. Wigg & Son, 1899. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Adelaide, E.S. Wigg & Son, 1899. Octavo, 83, [1] (colophon) pages plus a frontispiece portrait. Dark brown stippled cloth lettered in gilt on the front cover; free endpapers heavily offset (the pastedowns lightly so); short tear to the inner margin of one leaf expertly sealed; mild signs of age and use (but see below); an excellent copy. These memoirs of James Collins Hawker (1821-1901) date back to 1838, when he arrived with Governor George Gawler. They first appeared as a series of articles in 'The South Australian Register' and 'The Adelaide Observer'. An utterly rare second series was published in 1901. Ferguson 10297 (noting only black cloth; we have seen various colours). This is a presentation copy, inscribed and signed in ink on the verso of the front free endpaper to 'J. Tomkinson | from James Collins Hawker | Feby 22. 1900'. The later inkstamp signature of A. Grenfell Price is on the front pastedown, his marginal emphases in pencil are on 40 pages, and his annotations in pencil appear on four pages. In the most significant annotation, Sir Archibald Grenfell Price (1892-1977), geographer, historian and educationist, has written at the head of page 12, with reference to an underlined section on rammed-earth or 'pise' houses: 'I used this account of pisé houses in Foundation and Settlement ['The Foundation and Settlement of South Australia, 1829-1845', published in 1924]. Although the information was incorrect I knew it rested on an early authority. AGP'.