BARRINGTON, George

A Voyage to Botany Bay...

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C. Lowndes and H.D. Symonds, circa 1800 [and] London, 1801. Small octavo, two works bound together,the first with an engraved frontispiece and vignette on title, the second bound without half-title; both works in fine condition in a neat contemporary French quarter calf binding, a little chipped. The latest news from the new colony of New South Wales. This is an early pairing of the two initial "Barrington" Botany Bay works; a number of editions were published in this form, all of which are scarce. The first work is dated 1795 by Ferguson, but actually has 1800 watermarks. The vignette on the first title-page showing convicts in chains being disembarked is one of very few illustrations of convicts in the early period, a subject surprisingly consistently avoided by contemporary illustrators.

Bound with it is the very scarce second edition of the Barrington Sequel. Exactly how much of either text, if any, was actually Barrington's work is uncertain, but even if all the published pieces that go under the name of Barrington were concocted from other sources by the London publishers, the eighty entries in Ferguson demonstrate the great popularity that his accounts had with the contemporary reader. These early editions represent the form in which information about New South Wales reached those of the public who could not afford the expensive quartos published by members of the First Fleet. It is a significant form of information even now since as well as deriving its information from the obvious sources like First Fleeter narratives it also reflects news of the colony from more minor and personal or anecdotal sources.
Ferguson, 206 & 328; Garvey, 'George Barrington', AB17 & AB18.

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