Lot 18445: Wallis, RARE - A Plan of Port Macquarie, including a Sketch of Part of Hastings River on the East Coast of New South Wales, Australia

This rare and historical engraving is from James Wallis's An Historical Account of the Colony of New South Wales and its Dependent Settlements. The work was published in London for R. Ackermann in 1821. The work is very important and contains views of Sydney, Newcastle and Hawkesbury River, as well as an Aboriginal Corrobborree.

This work contains a fair bit of folklore around its history. Wallis had taken credit for the drawings as his own on the title page. However, the Mitchell Library purchased the original sketch album in 2011, which shows conclusively that the drawings were done by a convict artist, Joseph Lycett. The engravings were also completed by another convict transport, W. Preston. Preston was said to have engraved the views from the sheet-copper of the hulls of ships as none was available in New South Wales.

Wallis arrived to Australia with the 46th regiment. Preston and Lycett were his prisoners in transport as well as at the Newcastle penal settlement between 1816 and 1818. "Wallis's book has a most important position in a collection of Australian plate books. It is the first book of general landscape views of early New South Wales, representing the first great celebration of the progress of the colony made under the civilising rule of Governor Macquarie and, indeed, of Wallis himself. It is also the first plate book, properly so called, to consist entirely of plates engraved in the colony by a colonial engraver". (Wantrup)

~ 19" by 13 1/2"

Engraving with Recent Professional Hand-coloring

1821

Overall Very Good. There may be a few minor mark to be expected with age. Please review the image carefully for condition and contact us with any questions.

An Historical Account of the Colony of New South Wales and its Dependent Settlements