Essays and Miscellaneous Pieces by the late Edward R. Stephenson. With a preface by his friend, C. Todd .

[Photography]. STEPHENSON, Edward R.

Published by Andrews, Thomas, and Clark, Adelaide, 1865

About this Item

Adelaide, Andrews, Thomas, and Clark, 1865. Octavo, [ii] (frontispiece), [ii] (title leaf), vi, 118, vi (book review) pages with 2 mounted albumen paper photographs (one is a frontispiece portrait of Stephenson, 87 × 57 mm; the other is of a sketch, presumably by Stephenson, 103 × 57 mm). The book review, reprinted from the 'South Australian Register', December 28, 1865, has been folded down the middle before being bound in. Full morocco now expertly rebacked, all edges gilt (contemporary but probably not original - we have only seen blind-stamped cloth before); corners worn, front and rear covers a little scuffed; overall a very good copy. One of the earliest Australian imprints illustrated with original photographs (see Holden: 'Photography in Colonial Australia' [Sydney, 1988]), where the author is incorrectly referred to in the text and index as Stevensen). The first essay, the St Peter's Collegiate School Prize Essay of 1864, is entitled 'The Difficulties of Colonization in the Northern Territory' (17 pages); another two pages are devoted to the importance of the acquisition of the Northern Territory to South Australia. Almost half the book (58 pages) is given over to verse by Stephenson, who died at the age of 18 in May 1865. Inscribed on an early blank, in what we know to be the hand of Charles Todd, to 'Mr Edwd Stirling Junr / Xmas 1865'; with the pictorial bookplate ['Gang forward'] of Edward Charles Stirling. Ferguson 16245; Holden 103. We have previously sold a copy inscribed by Todd to his daughter on 4 December 1865, in which the review was loosely inserted (as an eight-page pamphlet). The Christmas inscription and the inclusion of the review not published until 28 December suggest that this morocco binding came after the event.

Seller Inventory # 78579

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Essays and Miscellaneous Pieces by the late Edward R. Stephenson. With a preface by his friend, C. Todd .
• Publisher: Andrews, Thomas, and Clark, Adelaide
• Publication Date: 1865
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Photography
  • Poetry
  • Northern Territory
  • Australia
  • South Australia