OXLEY, John. JOURNALS OF TWO EXPEDITIONS INTO THE INTERIOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES,

OXLEY, John. JOURNALS OF TWO EXPEDITIONS INTO THE INTERIOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES, undertaken by order of the British Government in the Years 1817-18. By John Oxley, Surveyor General of the Territory and Lieutenant of the Royal Navy. With Maps and Views of the Interior, or newly discovered country. Quarto, with the sectional title, one folding engraved plate, five aquatint plates (two handcoloured), three folding charts, and two folding tables; a fine copy beautifully bound in period style by Aquarius in half tan calf and marbled boards, marbled edges and endpapers, the spine elaborately decorated in gilt, with contrasting label and inlays of red morocco. London, John Murray, 1820. First edition of the foundation work of Australian inland exploration and the first detailed description of the interior of New South Wales to be published. Surveyor-General John Oxley’s narrative of his two major expeditions, issued in an edition of only 500 copies, includes a fine hand-coloured aquatint portrait of an Aboriginal chief by John William Lewin, as well as an evocative series of aquatint landscape views drawn by Major James Taylor from sketches by George William Evans. Ferguson, 796; Wantrup, 107.