George Barrington's Voyage to Botany Bay: Retelling a Convict's Travel Narrative of the 1790s (Literature of Travel, Exploration and Empire)

Rickard Suzanne

ISBN 10: 0718501861 / ISBN 13: 9780718501860

Published by Leicester University Press, 2001

About this Item

Near Fine Pp 181 Index Illustrations.

Seller Inventory # 014035

Bibliographic Details

• Title: George Barrington's Voyage to Botany Bay: Retelling a Convict's Travel Narrative of the 1790s (Literature of Travel, Exploration and Empire)
• Publisher: Leicester University Press
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0718501861
• ISBN 13: 9780718501860
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket as Issued
• Seller catalogs:
  • Australia

About this title

Synopsis

In 1791 George Barrington, the notorious "Prince of Pickpockets" was transported to the penal colony of New South Wales. Barrington's voyage to Botany Bay encouraged British publishers to falsely represent him as author of the first publication attributed to a convictÆs pen, The Impartial and Circumstantial Narrative of the Present State of Botany Bay (c. 1793). This fully annotated edition identifies the work's original textual sources and illuminates its complex publishing history. Shrewd publishers exploited the famous name and presented a seamless and colorful assemblage cut from official journals, revealing the extent of close contact with the Aboriginal population, the treatment of convicts and discovery of unusual plants and animals. Bearing all the hallmarks of authenticity, Barrington's account gained a singular place in popular contemporary travel and exploration literature, providing the foundation for a long series of embellished and illustrated histories. Barrington's revival as a reformed convict helped to transform his own image, while the narrative's insights into the rigors of transportation, the struggle for survival and daily life in the penal colony initiated a lively convict travel literature.

About the Author

Suzanne Rickard was the 1999-2000 C.H. Currey Fellow at the State Library of New South Wales, Sydney.