| Search Antiqbook |
Ask a question or
Order this book
Browse our books
Search our books
Book dealer info
The Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter: 2 vols Volumes I & II May 11, 1816 to December 27, 1817; Volumes III and IVPlatypus Publications, Hobart, 1965 and 1967. Hardcover quartos, Vols I and II: prelims and page edges foxed/spotted; boards rubbed at edges, some slight discolouration; dustwrapper creased/frayed at edges. Good in fair dustwrapper; Vols III and IV: lightly foxed prelims and spotted page edges; else, fine in like dustwrapper. In common with other early Australian newspapers and documents the state of the original issues of the Hobart Town Gazette made facsimile reproduction a difficult task. Broken type, uneven inking and variations in the quality of paper used presented many problems. Many issues were discoloured and torn and in some cases, not print at all showed on portions of the page. The original issues were photographed in Melbourne and Sydney. All negatives were then sent to the printing company in Hobart where intensive retouching was carried out to eliminate extraneous marks. From the negatives contact positives were made. Introductory notes and index were set in the normal manner and offset printing plates were made of this and of the facsimile pages. The whole book was then printed on an offset lithographic press. Of the newspaper itself, C Craig in the introduction writes the following;- "One of the first of the correspondents was Robert Lathrop Murray who wrote over the name 'A Colonist'. Murray was a former Army officer who had been transported for bigamy and had become free by servitude. He was a man of compelling personality and for over twenty years was recognized as one of Hobart Town's leading pressmen. He wrote powerful editorials but his opinions were warped by bitterness. Although he had been an officer and a gentleman, he was not accepted in Hobart Town's highest social circles. Lieutenant-Governor Arthur had an intense dislike of him, a dislike indeed, that amounted to loathing...During the whole of Arthur's period he received violent opposition from the press and this view can be put forward - that some of his success was due to his tyrannical instincts having been held in checkby this opposition. A privately owned press must have been anathema to Arthur and in June or July 1824 he claimed the Gazette as Government property. ...Governor-in Chief, Sir Thomas Brisbane upheld Bent's ownership. Moreover he rejected Arthur's suggestion that the press should be licensed. He went even further. Late in 1824 the Australian newspaper was being founded in Sydney. Observing that no censorship was to be applied to this new paper. Robert Howe, the printer of the Sydney Gazette, asked Brisbane to relieve the Gazette of censorship also."
Offered for AUD 105.00 = appr. US$ 109.44 by: Lamdha Books - Book number: 33338