"Field Sports of New South Wales" - Bound for Louis Phillippe I - King of France - 1813

"Field Sports, &c. &c. of the Native Inhabitants of New South Wales; with Ten Plates, by the Author. Dedicated, by Permission, to Rear Admiral Bligh."

-First seperate edition published without numbering to pages

-Complete: [8,[10] with 10 hand coloured plates.

-BOUND FOR LOUIS PHILLIPE KING OF FRANCE AND DUC D'ORLÉANS (1873-1850)

-Quarto (30 x 23cm approx)

-Contemporary quarter calf with green boards and morocco label to centre with the crest of the Duc D'Orléans and "Field Sports of New South Wales" in gilt lettering.

-Wear to corners and crack to binding but holding firm.

-Published in London and sold by Edward Orme

-1813 (with watermark of 1811 on some plates)

Provenance: Louis Phillipe I of France & H.W.Wheelwright, naturalist and "hunter" in the Australian outback.

Condition: Internally near fine - library stamp of Duc D'Orléans to title page. Binding with crack to spine (remains firm) and bumps to corners plus wear to paper covers.

The first significant work to be published illustrating the First Nation Aboriginals of Australia. This work was produced to a high standard with coloured aquatints on thick paper, and was designed for a distinguished audience. The work gave sympathetic depictions of Australia with illustrations of idealised scenes such as Kangaroo hunting, fishing, and bird hunting. Other plates depict a Corroboree and traditional life for Aboriginal First Nations in Australia. 

This copy is particularly interesting in that it was bound for the Bourbon King Louis Philippe I of France, who was exiled in Britain during the Napoleonic wars (until 1815). King Louis Philippe was a patron of exploration and ethnographic study,  and his ownership highlights the importance that this work was held in its day.

Alongside the Royal provenance, this copy was also owned by Horace William Wheelwright (1815-1865) who wrote "Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist" and was a hunter-naturalist living amongst Victorian Bushmen.