Before the Invasion: Aboriginal Life to 1788
Australian History Reference Antiquarian & Collectible Indigenous Studies Pre-Colonial History Ethnography Cultural History
First-edition paperback, 1981, Oxford University Press – Before the Invasion: Aboriginal Life to 1788 is the concise, authoritative primer collectors and students look for when they want the pre-contact story straight from an ethnohistorian’s desk. Isobel White distils decades of field work and museum archives into 109 illustrated pages that map how more than 200 distinct Aboriginal nations hunted, traded, governed, celebrated and cared for country before European ships appeared. Because Oxford kept the print-run small for the Australian market, clean copies of this debut printing have become genuinely scarce, especially in North America and Europe where the title rarely surfaces.
What makes this copy doubly desirable is its provenance: it carries a neat prior-owner inscription (not author-signed) and the discreet “ex libris” label of a noted Australian educator, giving the book a traceable, conversation-starting history. The internal stamp and sticker are the sort of institutional marks vintage collectors expect and actually welcome as confirmation of first-edition status. Condition is uniformly described as “good” – tight spine, no missing plates, all maps and line drawings intact – so it can be read, displayed or used as a ready-reference without worry.
For teachers, home-schoolers or YA readers tackling the new national curriculum, this is the pocket-sized overview that pairs perfectly with heavier monographs. White’s prose is crisp and jargon-free, the thematic chapters (tools, kinship, art, economy, law, ceremony) are cross-referenced to the illustrations, and the bibliography still points to the classic sources every tertiary essay expects. In short, it is the missing link between children’s picture books and weighty academic tomes.
If you are building an Australiana shelf, a cultural-studies collection, or simply want a trustworthy introduction to the world’s oldest living cultures, snap up this vintage, first-edition copy while it is still available – copies inscribed and ex-libris rarely linger in the online marketplace.
Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.
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