Pastoral Homes of Australia Comprising two volumes from the first series, separately titled 'New South Wales & Queensland' (1911) and 'New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia & New Zealand' (1914).
Melbourne: published by the Pastoral Review, 1911 & 1914. Two volumes, in matching polished gilt calf bindings; paginated viii, 536 pages (1911), and viii, 442 pages (1914) respectively. Profusely illustrated throughout. We are pleased to offer two volumes of the Pastoral Homes of Australia, a benchmark publication of Australian rural architecture featuring the finest rural homesteads and estates. Any surviving volumes from this series are rare, as they were printed in limited numbers. The intended market for the books were the owners of the stations themselves – rather than the broader reading public.
The publication history of the Pastoral Homes of Australia is noteworthy for clarifying the scope and intention of each respective volume. The first series was issued between 1911 and 1914, and comprises four volumes in total. The second series (of three volumes) was issued some years later between 1929 and 1931, before this ambitious publishing venture was rendered non-viable in the hard years of the Great Depression.
Offered here in superb matching bindings are two volumes from the first series; respectively titled New South Wales & Queensland (1911) and New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia & New Zealand (1914). We believe that the second of these, being the broadest in scope, was the last of the first series (and as such, was clearly intended to showcase only the very finest homesteads and grazing estates).
These two books have been recently bound by Sydney based master binder Isabelle McGowan, in a specially commissioned binding of gilt decorated polished calfskin. We feel that this special binding reflects the importance of this book as a cornerstone record of Australian rural architecture and station life.
In keeping with other subscriber issued deluxe editions of the early twentieth century, Pastoral Homes of Australia was originally bound in textured roan. This material wears poorly, making well preserved examples in the original bindings both rare and expensive.
As an example of the detail provided, the chapter treating Quaimong Estate near Deniliquin is typical. Quaimong Estate was the property of Mr. Percy Landale at the time of publication in 1914. Over sixteen pages detail both the homestead and many proud aspects of the cattle station. Images include the front drive of the homestead, verandah, rose garden, vegetable garden, various walks and bowers, the overseer's cottage and the woolsheds. As for the property, images include the billabong, overshot dam, stud rams, dray teams, dairy cattle, breaking in a filly, fine pasture country, and so forth.
Aside from the homesteads and landscapes featured, the Pastoral Homes of Australia showcases some of the finest merino rams of the era. For example, Canowie Estate in South Australia boasts 'Donald Dinnie', born in 1904 and father of some 1,052 lambs by 1912. Donald Dinnie commands a whole page photograph at the height of his career in 1907, with a full fleece and market valuation of some 1,200 guineas. Item #3368
Price (AUD): $12,500.00