STRZELECKI, Paul Edmund de

Gold and Silver: A Supplement...

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Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans London, 1856. Octavo, 34 pp.; a fine copy in the original maroon ribbed cloth, decorated in blind and lettered in gilt, with endpaper advertisements, by Westleys of London with their ticket, bookplates. Author's presentation copy of this scarce and important Supplement, which was published eleven years after the release of Strzelecki's Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.

In this important discussion of the identification of gold in Australia, the famous explorer and scientist cogently sets out his claim to be the first person to discover gold, having positively identified a sample from Bathurst in 1839. In the preface Strzelecki states that Governor Gipps, on learning of the discovery, had asked him to stay silent on the subject for fear of potential social unrest. Strzelecki complied with the request and was 'also silent on the subject in my book [published 1845] and in my formal communication with learned bodies in Europe...'.

The publicity, if not notoriety, surrounding the Hargraves discoveries started Strzelecki on a long struggle, ably supported by friends in Sydney, to prove his own priority of claim. This Supplement was, therefore, published to set straight the printed record of the matter.

This is a fine copy, inscribed "From the Author" on the title-page, in the superior binding of dark purple cloth. Ferguson describes only a publisher's binding of stiffened khaki wrappers, with the cover-title printed as a label with the price of 2s.
Ferguson, 16369.

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