Australian “Incunable” - Early Australian printing by the “Father” of Australian printing - George Howe – a convict printer

Third Report of the Auxiliary Bible Society of New South Wales - 1819

-Sydney: Printed by G. Howe, Government Printer, 1819.

-Duodecimo (15 x 10.5 cm), pp. 32 (Complete)  - original grey wrappers bound in.

-Later blue Morocco with gilt spine lettering. Very good condition. Title page shorter (as issued), a few tears to the bottom and sides of pages, and minor losses at corners.

A rare Macquarie-era Sydney imprint, printed by George Howe (1769-1821), the colony’s first government printer. George Howe is regarded as the father of Australian printing, having established the first government press in Australia from 1802-1821. Born on St Kitts in the Caribbean into a printing family, Howe moved to London in his 20s to pursue a printing career, but was sentenced to transportation to Australia as a convict for shoplifting. Arriving in Australia in 1800, he became government printer in 1802, using the press brought to Australia by Governor Arthur Phillip.

The Auxiliary Bible Society of New South Wales was founded in 1817 by Rev. William Cowper with the support of Elizabeth and Governor Lachlan Macquarie, and placed under the Governor’s patronage. An offshoot of the British and Foreign Bible Society,  Auxiliary Bible societies were set up across the empire to improve access to Bibles. In Australia the society aimed to fund the printing of Bibles to ensure that settlers and the Aboriginal population could learn the word of God. This 1819 report documents early colonial religious and philanthropic life, listing subscribers and benefactors, and the great need for more Bibles in Australia - The report notes that there was only 1 Bible for every 4 souls in Sydney. Donations of Bibles to jails, schools and hospitals are described, as well as shipments to Van Diemen's land and elsewhere in Australia.

Provenance: Presentation inscription from Justice Edward Wise (1818–1865)—Attorney-General of New South Wales the first systematic collector of Australiana—to Brent Plashett Rodd (1842–1942), November 11, 1864. Contemporary bookplate of Dr George Mackaness

Rarity: Ferguson 729. World cat states four institutional copies only with no copies outside of Australasia: (National Library of Australia, State Library of New South Wales, State Library of Victoria, Turnbull Library NZ.)