Stuart Case by Inglis, First Edition (3 results)

Softcover / Paperback. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. First edition. Softcover, 1st Australian edn. The violent rape and murder of little Mary Hattam, on December 20, 1958 in Ceduna, west coast, South Australia, and the subsequent arrest and execution of an aborigine, Rupert Max Stuart for the crime. The effort to identify a murderer grew into a violent and general controversy, and exposed the judicial and political system of South Australia to a scrutiny which was undoubtedly as unpleasant as it was penetrating. Only within a society with some real claim to be called free could such a case arise. To worry about the fate of one obscure man convicted of murder may appear to people living through the history of places like South Africa, an enviable luxury. The line from a police state to Australia is long; but in the Stuart case one was reminded in all conscience that free society is a precarious achievement, dependent as much on the absence of seriously divisive issues as upon allegiance to liberal principles among the holders of office. On a map of the world, the threats to personal freedom in South Australia which arose during the Stuart case were doubtless small; but they were, and still are, worth taking seriously. On several occasions the name of Stuart was compared with that of Alfred Dreyfus. Was there any parallel between the aborigine convicted in Adelaide of murder and the Alsation Jew sent to Devil's Island in 1895 for having betrayed the French Republic? If Stuart was an innocent man picked up because of the colour of his skin and convicted on untrustworthy evidence, and if, when doubts were raised about his guilt, the authorities for a long time refused to exercise clemency or to order a fresh investigation because they believed that to do so might endanger the established order, then the cases would indeed be similar. With Frontis. and a Note on Sources. A5 size, card covers. 321pp. softcover. With previous owner's personal b/plate, small., neat insc. a few mks. on lower cover o/w Vg+.

8vo. pp: 321. Original publisher's black boards with gilt lettering at spine in original publisher's red, white and black dust jacket. Some illustrations in black and white. Dust jacket shows signs of shelfwear with creases and small marks at front and rear and has been taped in places on the inside. Spine ever so slightly bumped at top and bottom. Previous owner's "ex libris" sticker at front paste-down endpaper. Writing in ink at ffep. Pages slightly toned with age. Otherwise content clean. Solid copy overall. Good plus.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Melbourne, Black Inc., 2002 (first thus)/ 1961 (first edition, published by Melbourne University Press). Octavo, [viii], 404 pages. Colour-pictorial card covers lightly bumped on the spine; front cover slightly creased; text block tanned around the margins; a very good copy. 'The text of the original book has not been altered. Some usages generally accepted in 1961 may now distract or jar .' (author's note printed on page [vii]). However, new to this edition is the lengthy and important 'Epilogue 1959-2002' (pages 323-404). Provenance: Australian historian Professor Hugh Stretton (1924-2015) and his wife Pat, with a presentation inscription by the author on the front free endpaper: 'For Hugh, who sent me in | Providence R.I. the first copy I | ever saw, inscribed "With | compliments to the author", | and for Pat, to whom I had | self-indulgently given a | set of proofs | with love | from Ken | March 2004'. Signed.