Lot 81

It appears the present lot, apparently unrecorded, is one of only four known examples of this work – one of the earliest photographically illustrated books produced in Australia – and the only one with this number of portraits, double the number otherwise known, albeit mounted with smaller prints than those in other examples.

In his copy of the work, James Smith (1820–1910), the prominent Melbourne art critic who is believed to have written its anonymous introduction, recorded his understanding that only three copies were produced, these with sixteen portraits. The three other copies known are in the collections of the Mitchell Library, Sydney (James Smith's copy), the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, and the Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne.