Seven little Australians

Illustrated by A. J. Johnson. London : Ward, Lock & Bowden, Limited, 1894. First edition. Octavo, gilt-decorated pictorial cloth, (edges rubbed, recased and endpapers replaced), black and white frontispiece, pp. 240; 16 (publisher’s catalogue), black and white plates and text illustrations, wet stamp of Mrs. Sawley’s Book Exchange of Albert Park to half-title and p. 9, edges toned, text block a little shaken, small burn hole to the margin of a few leaves of adverts., a good, complete copy.

First edition of the Australian children’s classic.

‘Ethel Turner was born in England in 1870. In 1879 she migrated to Australia with her mother and two sisters. The family settled in Sydney where Ethel and her sister Lilian attended Sydney Girls High School. They both edited a schoolgirls’ magazine, Iris, and later the Parthenon, a literary magazine which ran for three years. In 1892 Ethel took over the children’s page in the Illustrated Sydney News.Turner was prolific during her time in Lindfield, writing three novels as well as newspaper articles and short stories between 1891 and 1894. Her first novel, Seven Little Australians, was originally titled ‘Six Pickles’. When it was published in 1894 it became an immediate success and has been in print ever since. It was followed by a sequel, The Family at Misrule, in 1895.  Turner married a lawyer, H.R. Curlewis in 1896 and by the time of her death in 1958 had produced over 40 books as well as numerous short stories and poems.’ – State Library of New South Wales https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/ethel-turners-seven-little-australians

Reference : Muir 7457; Burnet 1.1