Folio Archives 453: Ralph Rashleigh by James Tucker 1977
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Ralph Rashleigh by James Tucker 1977
This remarkable book is purportedly the biography of a convict transported to New South Wales in the 1820s. Discovered a century later in 1920 as a manuscript that was dated 1845 (see Introduction page enlarged below) it was found to describe many actual incidents in the early penal colony of Sydney and was accepted as a true biography of a convict as dictated to a squatter (grazier) who had acted as a scribe. In this form it was first published in 1929.
In 1976, just prior to this edition, Colin Roderick the professor of English at James Cook University (Townsville, Queensland) undertook further research and found that it was not a true biography but a collection of anecdotes written by a convict named James Tucker who took incidents in his own life, and the lives of numerous other convicts whom he knew, and combined them into this fascinating biographical novel.
It is a compelling book to read as it describes in detail life in England in the early 19th.C before the author was transported, as well as the harsh life experienced by convicts in the remote colony, and the lives of the free settlers, Aborigines and soldiers. It is probable that all these experiences occurred, although somewhat embellished and not to the author. It is one of the first, if not the first novel, written in Australia
The 344 page is printed letterpress (as were most Folio Society books before 1980) with a noticeable light bite. It is introduced and edited by Prof. Colin Roderick and has 16 full-page drawings by Nigel Lambourne all being close to the appropriate text.
The page tops are stained brown and it is bound in pale green cloth with a wrap-around picture in brown. The map endleaves show the area around Sydney in 1828 and are printed white on dark brown. The light brown slipcase measures 23.5x14.9cm.
Copies are plentiful and cheap on the secondary market.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
This remarkable book is purportedly the biography of a convict transported to New South Wales in the 1820s. Discovered a century later in 1920 as a manuscript that was dated 1845 (see Introduction page enlarged below) it was found to describe many actual incidents in the early penal colony of Sydney and was accepted as a true biography of a convict as dictated to a squatter (grazier) who had acted as a scribe. In this form it was first published in 1929.
In 1976, just prior to this edition, Colin Roderick the professor of English at James Cook University (Townsville, Queensland) undertook further research and found that it was not a true biography but a collection of anecdotes written by a convict named James Tucker who took incidents in his own life, and the lives of numerous other convicts whom he knew, and combined them into this fascinating biographical novel.
It is a compelling book to read as it describes in detail life in England in the early 19th.C before the author was transported, as well as the harsh life experienced by convicts in the remote colony, and the lives of the free settlers, Aborigines and soldiers. It is probable that all these experiences occurred, although somewhat embellished and not to the author. It is one of the first, if not the first novel, written in Australia
The 344 page is printed letterpress (as were most Folio Society books before 1980) with a noticeable light bite. It is introduced and edited by Prof. Colin Roderick and has 16 full-page drawings by Nigel Lambourne all being close to the appropriate text.
The page tops are stained brown and it is bound in pale green cloth with a wrap-around picture in brown. The map endleaves show the area around Sydney in 1828 and are printed white on dark brown. The light brown slipcase measures 23.5x14.9cm.
Copies are plentiful and cheap on the secondary market.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
