A statistical, historical, and political description of the colony of New South Wales and its dependent settlements in Van Diemen’s Land with a particular enumeration of the advantages which these colonies offer for emigration, and their superiority in many respects over those possessed by the United States of America / by W.C. Wentworth, London: Printed for G. and W.B. Whittaker, 1819, with annotations by W.H. Suttor jnr, ca. 1887

MLMSS 7892/Box 1X

fonds

1819, annotated ca. 1887

861630

0.16 metres of textual material (1 outsize box)

William Charles Wentworth (1790-1872) was an explorer, author, barrister, landowner and statesman. His mother, Catherine Crowley, was a convict transported to Australia for seven years. Dr D’Arcy Wentworth (1764-1827) acknowledged himself as William's father.

W.C. Wentworth wrote his Description of the colony of New South Wales at the suggestion of John Macarthur jnr. It was the first original work published by an Australian-born author and did much to stimulate emigration to Australia. The work was reissued in revised and enlarged editions in 1820 and 1824.

William Henry Suttor jnr (1834-1905) was a politician, pastoralist and author of 'Australian Stories Retold' (1887). His father, William Henry snr (1805-1877), was a member of the first Legislative Council of NSW (1843) and remained in Parliament until 1872. Suttor jnr was elected member of the NSW Legislative Assembly for the seat of East Macquarie (1875-1879) and appointed a member of the NSW Legislative Council (1880-1900).

Reference:
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volumes 2 & 6

The inside cover has labels of two previous sellers pasted on it: Wantrup and Angus & Robertson

Wentworth's book gives a great deal of information about New South Wales for intending migrants as well as expressing some of Wentworth's own ideas on the future development of the colony.

Suttor's notes in the volume concern W.C. Wentworth and his father d’Arcy Wentworth and are mostly based on the memories of Suttor’s father. The remarks are passionate and far from complimentary, and particularly dwell on the illegitimate children sired by both of them. There is also a critical anecdote about Macquarie. Annotations in the text occur when Suttor disagrees with Wentworth’s comments, particularly those concerning Bligh.

The volume is signed on the title page by an early owner, William Henry Suttor jnr, who also wrote five pages of handwritten notes on the endpapers dated ca.1887 and made further annotations in the text (see for example pp.166-168, 172 and 433).

First edition
The cover is not original.
According to Jonathan Wantrup in his book 'Australian Rare Books 1788-1900', there are two distinct issues of the first edition. Only a few copies have a number of manuscript corrections in a clerical hand made to the text by the publisher. These corrections were then incorporated in the revised text of the second edition published in 1820. The volume catalogued here is one of these rare copies with the publisher’s corrections.