Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/353

THE CHRONICLES OF SYDNEY COVE. 243 1789

The first publication wluch gave the English public an authentic account of the results of Phillip's expedition was the book commonly known as Phillip's Voyage*— a hand- Phimp's «ome quarto volume, *' embellished with fifty-five copper- plates/' which made its appearance in the year 1769. It was practically an official production, published by John fitockdale, of Pitscadilly, the well-known Government printer of the day. The historical part of the work was based on the despatches received from Phillip, the latest date being November, 1788 ; the rest of the matter being made up -partly of descriptive sketches of animals, birds, and fishes, illuslarated by hand-painted engravings ; and partly of ac- -cannts of voyages made by some of the transports on their return from the colony to Batavia, England, and China. Phillip's despatches, ''which were liberally communicated Hte ^^^ by Government,'^ were written out with, editorial decora- tions by the compiler for the purpose of presenting a con- nected narrative of events. The portion of the work de- voted to natural history was apparently done by several liands, and judging from the appearance of the illustrations, few of them were drawn and coloured from real life. The Voyage proved a very readable publication, and no doubt made a good impression on the public mind with respect to the prospects of the distant settlement. The work passed through three editions in the course of the following year, and was shortly afterwards translated into French and French and German. It contains a curiosity in the shape of an '^ elegant trwwtationB. vignette" on the title-page, representing Hope standing in classical attire on the shores of Sydney Cove and addressing Swedidi one in 1797. Tench's Narrative,- published in 1780, was repub- lished in Dutch in 1789, in French in 1789 and 1791, in Swedish in 1797; his Complete Aoecrant of the Settlement at Port Jackson, published in 1793, was translated into German in 1794. White's Journal, published in 1790, did not appear in a foreign language until 1795, when it was published in Frendi. There is no trace of any translation of Collins's Account, the first volume of which was published in 1798, and the second in 1802 ; a fact which may be accounted for partly by the unusual size of the work and partly by its baving appeared rather late in the field — ^the greater part of its contents having be^ anticipated by earlier publications. • Post, p. 581. Digitized by Google