A lovely copy of this rare work in the publisher’s cloth.
The plates are engraved by the convict artist, Thomas Bock. They are after originals by Frankland, Dalrymple and Lemprière. Hackforth-Jones writes of Bock: “As a result of his work for James Ross, the proprietor of the Hobart Town Almanack, Bock’s skill as an engraver was further recognised. Most of the illustrations for the 1829, 1839, and 1835 almanacks were engraved by him and some also drawn by him. These plates … are competently engraved with finely-incised detail.” The plates include a views of the residence of Joseph Hone, a view of Hobart, Macquarie Street, Ross Bridge, the punt at Perth, the Fall of the Derwent, and Macquarie Harbour.
James Ross arrived in Tasmania in 1822, with a recommendation from Governor Lachlan Macquarie and just over £1300 in capital. He worked as a tutor, eventually for the likes of Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur’s children, though his initial hopes to establish a school were abandoned. In 1825 he was appointed, with George Howe, government printer. Their partnership dissolved within two years and in January 1827 “Ross was appointed to sole charge of the government printing office in February and in March Howe began publishing the Tasmanian in Hobart. Under the new arrangement the Hobart Town Gazette was an official weekly paper containing government announcements but no comment or discussion. In October Ross began to publish weekly also the Hobart Town Courier, an independent newspaper, but one which consistently supported the government. In 1828, instead of his salary, Ross was given a contract to print the Gazette for £5 a week with a monopoly of government printing. In 1829 he began producing the annual Hobart Town Almanack, and in February 1833 the short-lived Hobart Town Chronicle. In 1835 he edited and published four issues of the Van Diemen’s Land Monthly Magazine, in which appeared verse, literary articles, and articles on natural history” (ADB).
John Franklin wrote an amusing letter in support of Ross receiving a second land grant upon his retirement: noting one the one hand that “If I were called upon to name the person who had in the greatest degree contributed to the welfare of Van Diemen’s Land in the last twelve years I should certainly name Ross. His knowledge is most various and extensive and he has the gift of conveying it in the most simple, pleasing and popular manner.” However, Franklin couldn’t help but add that Ross had “frequently quite embarrassed the Government by his support. Politics were evidently not his forte, and often on perusing his Paper might I have exclaimed ‘Save me from my friends’”.
Ferguson, 1366; Hackforth-Jones, J, The Convict Artists, London, 1977, p.20.
