Estate / Collection: The Howard Phipps, Jr. Collection, Erchless, Old Westbury

LOUISA ANNE MEREDITH

Some of my Bush Friends in Tasmania. London: Day & Son, 1860. First edition. Brown crushed morocco over spine and corners, gilt lettered and ruled, with brown cloth over boards, all edges gilt, the binding signed by Sotheran & Co. 14 1/4 x 10 1/4 inches; [4], ii, 106 pp.; chromolithographic addition title-page and 12 plates, with lithographic illustrations in text, some of which are color-printed. Light scuffing and wear to the boards, two spots of bubbling to cloth, wear along the spine with the front joint starting, the front board a bit bowed, the contents generally clean and bright but with a short marginal tear to the preface leaf and a few small spots of soiling.

Louisa Anne Meredith (1812-1895) was an Anglo-Australian author and illustrator who, after emigrating from England, recorded Australia and Tasmania's newly discovered flora and fauna. This charmingly illustrated book, Meredith's first to use the then-new color-printing process of chromolithography, was an immediate success and is the first in a series of similar works by the author.