The Governor's Noble Guest: Hyacinthe de Bougainville's Account of Port Jackson, 1825
Australian Colonial History Primary Source Memoir French Naval Exploration Convict Era Studies Indigenous Encounters Sydney History Pacific Voyages Scholarly Edition
The Governor’s Noble Guest: Hyacinthe de Bougainville’s Account of Port Jackson, 1825 is a scarce 1995 hard-cover first edition from Melbourne University Press that brings to English readers the newly translated journal of a French naval officer who walked the streets of Sydney only 37 years after the First Fleet arrived. Marc Serge Rivière’s meticulous 320-page scholarly edition presents Bougainville’s eyewitness observations of convict society, Aboriginal encounters, colonial architecture and the natural harbour that became modern Sydney—material never before available in book form. For collectors of Australiana, this is the definitive primary-source window into New South Wales at the moment it was transforming from penal outpost to prosperous colony.
What makes this copy especially appealing to buyers is its impeccable physical condition: the pages are pristine apart from two tiny spots, the binding is square and tight, and there are no prior-owner marks, dog-ears or highlighting that so often mar academic texts. The durable cloth hardcover has survived nearly three decades without the sun-fading or edge-bumping common to university-press titles. Complete with the original ISBN 9780522848526, it sits perfectly on a shelf beside other key colonial narratives such as those by Tench, Collins or Dumont d’Urville.
Because the book went out of print quickly and libraries seldom release copies, genuine first-edition hardcovers now command a premium. Historians, genealogists and heritage professionals value Bougainville’s detailed charts and population tables, while collectors prize the elegant dust-jacket artwork and the rigorous French–English annotation that Rivière provides. Secure this very-good condition exemplar now to add both scholarly depth and long-term scarcity to your collection of Australian colonial history.
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