Physical description

Hard cover book, The Australian Race Vol 1.
Author: Edward Micklethwaite Curr
Publisher: John Ferres, Government Printer Melbourne Aus.
Date: 1886-1887
Light brown cloth hardcover and spine and blue edging to hard covers lettering in blue . The spine has a label with an inscription.

Publication type

non-fiction

Inscriptions & markings

Paste down front end paper has a sticker from Warrnambool Mechanics Institute and Free Library.
Front loose end paper has a stamp from Warrnambool Public Museum.
Flyleaf has a stamp from Warrnambool Public Museum.

Summary

The Australian Race Vol. 1 by Edward M. Curr is the highly illustrated first part of Curr’s four volume ethnographic survey of Aboriginal Australia. It consolidates his findings on origins, languages, customs, and distributions, and its atlas volume furnishes a large comparative language map and ethnographic plates. The four volume set is a broad survey of Aboriginal peoples’ origins, languages, social customs, and movements across the Australian continent. Volume one is chiefly a comparative on various vocabularies and linguistic materials, with early observations used to identify and compare Aboriginal language groups.
This volume also documents specific rites and regional practices, as part of his broader attempt to synthesize ethnographic and linguistic data across Australia. The work is considered a foundational reference work although in today's modern world is is regarded as dated and eurocentric set of volumes as a reference in Australian Indigenous studies and anthropology.