1903 Poems In Rhyme & Verse by John Wood Antique Australian Poetry Fiction Book

The contents encompass a wide variety of verse, ranging from patriotic and historical poems to sonnets and reflective pieces of a more personal nature. Particularly noteworthy are the distinctly Australian themes which run throughout the collection, including poems such as From London To Sydney and The Last Of The Yarra Tribe, preserving contemporary impressions of colonial life and the changing landscape of Australia at the turn of the twentieth century. Written in both rhymed and blank verse forms, the poems display the classical influences and polished style characteristic of educated colonial writers of the period.

Published by Melville & Mullen in 1903, this first edition is presented in its original dark green cloth bindings with gilt lettering to the spine and upper board. An attractive example of an uncommon Australian poetry collection, it represents the literary work of a prominent colonial statesman whose private library was later destroyed in the 1909 fire at Dennistoun. Today, surviving copies are seldom encountered and the volume holds considerable appeal for collectors of Australian literature, Tasmaniana and early twentieth-century colonial poetry."