First edition thus. 24pp. Printed wraps, with the upper wrap constituting the title page. Very good. Adelaide, E. Spiller, 1880.
The Webster copy. This was originally published in 1878 and here has been reset with a new title page. The Narrinyeri were a loose confederacy of eighteen tribes based around the Murray lakes. Taplin’s mission to them began in 1859 as the Aboriginal Friends Association’s first missionary-teacher. He quickly learned the language, preached in it and translated bible tracts into it. “He published invaluable anthropological studies which were much superior to contemporary work on South Australian Aboriginals. His papers on philology and ethnology were acclaimed in Australia and abroad” (ADNB). Taplin later led the first official ethnographical survey of South Australia.
Ferguson, 16710.
