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Nine Years in Van Diemen's Land... An Essay on Prison Discipline... with Anecdotes of Bushrangers.. by SYME, J - 1848

by SYME, J

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Nine Years in Van Diemen's Land... An Essay on Prison Discipline... with Anecdotes of Bushrangers.. by SYME, J - 1848

Nine Years in Van Diemen's Land... An Essay on Prison Discipline... with Anecdotes of Bushrangers..

by SYME, J

  • Used
Dundee: W. Middleton, 1848. Duodecimo, some toning, bookplate of Charles R.J. Glover; a very good copy in the original green ribbed cloth, fraying at the hinges and a few bumps.

One of the better and most detailed accounts of life in Tasmania, based on the experiences of a settler who arrived from Liverpool in 1836, and full of interesting anecdotes about everyday life in the colony.

Syme is particularly good on farming, agriculture and natural history, and his intimate observations and monthly reports on conditions in Tasmania give a lively insight into the colony, much in the tradition of White's famous account of Selbourne. The account is full of revealing comments such as 'the bondicoot is a mischievous little visitor to potatoe grounds'. Syme was also employed in the prisons system for five years, and his extensive notes are a far cry from abstract theorising, with all manner of stories and examples drawn from his personal experience. His "Essay on Prison Discipline" includes potted biographies of many more notable Tasmanian convicts. Syme returned to the United Kingdom on the Tamar in 1847 and published this work shortly after.

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  • Bookseller Hordern House Rare Books AU (AU)
  • Book Condition Used
  • Quantity Available 1
  • Publisher W. Middleton
  • Place of Publication Dundee
  • Date Published 1848

We have 1 copies available starting at $850.00.

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Nine Years in Van Diemen's Land, comprising an Account of his Discovery, Possession, Settlement, Progress, Population, Value of Land, Herds, Flocks & c; An Essay on Prison Discipline; and the Results of the Working of the Probation System; with Anecdotes of Bushrangers

by Syme, J [ames]. Tasmania

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Used - Good + overall
Edition
First edition
Binding
Hardcover
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Antipodean Books, Maps & Prints
Garrison, New York, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 2 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$850.00

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Description:
Dundee: Printed for the author, sold by W. Middleton, Dundee; James Dewar and Son, Perth, 1848. First edition. Good + overall. An extremely scarce account of early life in Tasmania, including his experience guarding convicts / work crews, many of them North American political prisoners transported for their participation in the rebellion in Upper Canada in 1838. It also includes a valuable account of the life of the bushranger Mike Howe. James Syme was a Scot. Supervising convicts from 1841-1845, he described the Rocky Hills road station as a "hotbed of idleness and laxity." He recalled that in 1842 there were 400 cases of insubordination and escape. Conditions were so bad that military reinforcements had to be sent from Hobart Town. Louisa Anne Meredith, early settler and botanical artist, was unimpressed by the efforts of the Rocky Hills road gang, recalling that 'at one part of the road we found a gang of men employed in its improvement; forming, in the mean time, greater obstacles than they… Read More
Item Price
$850.00

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