Fate of the Artful Dodger

Parkhusrt Boys Transported to Australia and New Zealand 1842-1852

by Paul Buddee

St George Books, 1984, [First Edition], ISBN 0867780177, black and white photographs and illustrations, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, no inscriptions; dustjacket shows a little edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing, bumping and chipping to edges and corners, a little discoloration (see photographs)

“Paul Buddee unlocks more secrets of the Empire in this strange, compelling and entirely true story.  This is a book all the more fascinating – sometimes harrowing – because it is about the very youngest convicts transported to Australia and New Zealand.  Here are the youths, aged twelve to eighteen, who collectively were nothing less than the archetypal Artful Dodger, whom Charles Dickens made us half fear and half love.
Paul Buddee travelled 56,000 kilometres, to many parts of England, Australia and New Zealand, in the detective work that led him from archive to archive, form expert to expert.  The result is an enlightening and detailed account of child transportation and settlement in young colonial Australia and New Zealand, 1842 – 1852.”