A Successful Exploration through the Interior 1863

WILLS, William John

Registration number

1086522

Artist/maker

WILLS, William John

Publisher

Richard Bentley (publisher to Her Majesty)

Printer

William Cowes and Sons

Title

A Successful Exploration through the Interior

Production date

1863

Medium

leather, paper, ink

Dimensions (H x W x D)

22 x 14.5 x 3.8 cm

Inscriptions

Signed "Elizabeth R" under typed presentation statement on first page.

Credit line

Presented to the City of Melbourne by Queen Elizabeth II, 1963.
City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection

Keywords

Royal Visits, Burke & Wills exploration, 1863, Queen Elizabeth II, 1863, 1963

Summary

Green leather binding, marbling inside front & back covers. Windsor Castle Coat of Arms inside front cover. First three pages loose. This volume was presented to the City of Melbourne by Queen Elizabeth II in 1963, 100 years after its publication. An account of the Burke and Wills expedition from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria, it bears the bookplate of Queen Victoria’s library at Windsor Castle. As the Queen of an Empire upon which the sun truly never set, it makes complete sense that Victoria took an interest in significant events and developments occurring in the Australian colonies. But whether she actually read the book is another matter.