The Pearls of Cheong Tah
Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co. Ltd., 1922. Octavo, illustrated printed wrappers, 86 pp., seven additional leaves of the publisher's advertisements at back (unpaginated), frontispiece, six black-and-white illustrations included. Top spine end worn, lower spine end has come away, covers coming away slightly but holding firm, back cover has some circular light-tan marks without loss of text, browning of leaves throughout as common to publications of the period; otherwise a very good copy. First edition, scarce.
Written by the S. W. Powell, the author of The Maker of Pearls, The Great Jade Seal and Hermit Island, The Pearls of Cheong Tah is a rollicking adventure story focused on the recovery of a valuable set of pearls that mysteriously disappear. This leads the protagonist into several unexpected situations, some fraught and some humourous, and also to love. Powell was one of a number of Australian writers supported and championed by the New South Wales Bookstall Company, the publisher of this volume.
Originally located on George Street, Sydney, the company was known for its conveniently located bookstalls situated at railway and ferry terminals across the city. When the company was purchased by then employee A. C. Rowlandson in 1897, it soon after began publishing the first mass-market paperbacks in Australia; these became known collectively as "The Bookstall Series".
The series was primarily comprised of fiction titles written by Australian authors, including Steele Rudd, Arthur Wright, Beatrice Grimshaw, Louis Becke, Sumner Locke, Vance Palmer, Norman Lindsay, Percy Lindsay and S. W. Powell, on subjects ranging from sport and bushrangers to adventure and humour. Item #4982
Price (AUD): $140.00