1945 Cullenbenbong by Bernard O'Reilly Antique Australian Fiction Book 1st

Across thirteen chapters, O'Reilly moves through subjects ranging from brumby running and a wallaby drive to rain, snow, the river and the older men whose experiences connected the community with its past. Humour and adventure sit alongside an appreciation of the natural surroundings, while the changing weather and demanding terrain form an essential part of the world he remembers. In his introduction, he freely acknowledges the imperfections of memory, presenting these stories as a personal recollection rather than a formal history. That conversational approach gives the book much of its charm, preserving the atmosphere of stories shared beside a winter fire and offering readers a vivid sense of the relationships between country people and their environment.

Published in Brisbane by W. R. Smith & Paterson Pty. Ltd., this April 1945 second impression followed the original printing of October 1944. The volume retains its original decorated cover, featuring a rural landscape framed by a striking patterned border, and includes a photographic frontispiece captioned "In the Cullenbenbong Country." The photographed copy shows wear and creasing to the cover, deterioration around the spine and inner front hinge, age toning to the pages and a handwritten donation inscription beside the title-page gutter. An appealing early printing for readers and collectors of Australian bush memoirs, Blue Mountains regional literature and Bernard O'Reilly's writing, retaining the distinctive visual character of its original wartime publication."