8vo (205 x 125mm). Engraved title with hand-colored vignette, 20 hand-colored engraved plates, one hand-colored engraved folding map, full-page wood-engraved illustration. (Scattered light spotting, some offsetting to plates.) Contemporary half calf, marbled boards, red speckled edges (some rubbing, light wear to spine ends and corners, joints and hinges neatly repaired). Provenance: Walter Kerr Hamilton, Bishop of Salisbury (bookplate dated 1854); Frank S. Streeter (bookplate); his sale (Christie's, 17 April 2007, lot 23).

THE FRANK S. STREETER COPY.

FIRST EDITION, second issue, with the additional plates: "A Native Family," "Town Cove of Sydney," "Garden Island," "Entrance of Paramatta River," "South View of Sydney," "East View of Sydney," "Pinchgut Island." The History of New South Wales includes the first colored views of Sydney and is an important early account of the colony. The frontispiece and the two extra views of Sydney are the first color-plate Australian views, and are also among the earliest engravings to show proper settlement.

Born in Ireland, Barrington achieved notoriety for his remarkable dexterity as a thief, reputedly stealing watches and purses from fashionable crowds at theatres, races, and public gatherings while maintaining the manners and dress of a gentleman. His career brought him repeatedly before London courts, and in 1790, he was convicted at the Old Bailey and sentenced to transportation to New South Wales. There, in an ironic turn noted by early chroniclers of the colony, Barrington reformed and rose to become a respected constable at Parramatta. Abbey Travel 565; Ferguson 345; Whittell 39; Wood p.222. See Tooley 80.