Journal of an overland expedition in Australia from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, a distance of upwards of 3000 miles, during the years 1844-1845.

A$11,000 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

London : T. ​ W. Boone, 1847. First edition. Octavo, bound in period style with half-calf over marbled papered boards, spine in compartments with contrasting morocco title labels, pp. xx, 544, 8 (publisher s advertisements); frontispiece and [6] aquatint plates (1 folding), internally clean; with the rare separately issued, hand-coloured map on three sheets (as issued: note that the maps are not laid down on linen like the Davidson Collection set which sold at auction in 2006), each sheet 650 x 800 mm, all maps well preserved, Japanese tissue reinforcement along the folds, all folding to octavo size and housed in a matching portfolio box; the two volumes housed in a custom buckram box with calf trim (some insect marks). Rare set, complete with the separately issued maps, of this important account, published after Leichhardt had already set out on his final expedition. Leichhardt s first expedition, which took over a year to complete, was one of the most significant conducted by Australian explorers in the nineteenth century, opening up much of the rich interior of northern Australia. The expedition arrived at Port Essington in December, 1845, with the loss of only one of its members (the ornithologist, John Gilbert), having set out from southern Queendlsnd in September of the previous year. The fact that Leichhardt and his party were to disappear without trace on his next expedition, and that his ultimate fate remains a matter of conjecture, has understandably contributed to

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.