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CONTENTS:
Australiana at Project Gutenberg of Australia
The Australiana page at PGA (http://gutenberg.net.au/pgaus.html) boasts many ebooks by Australian writers, or books about Australia. There is a diverse range from the journals of the land and sea explorers to the early accounts of white settlement in Australia to the fiction of 'Banjo' Paterson, Henry Lawson and many other Australian writers.
This month's postings include 'Quintus Servinton' by Henry Savery (1791-1842) (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Savery), first published in 1830. (See http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700971h.html).
In 'A History of Australian Literature', H M Green notes that Savery was a convict at the time of publication. He had been a well-known sugar broker in Bristol, England, but got into debt and, in 1825, was transported for fraud. Green states that "The cruel facts of degradation and disillusionment that lie at the back of 'Quintus Servinton', and its author's pitiful attempt to build up a glorified image of what might conceivably have been himself and his story, give the book a certain, though inconsiderable, interest even now." The main interest in the book must, however, be the fact of its place as the first work of fiction published in Australia.
Another of this month's postings, 'The Missing Angel' (see http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0701011.txt) by Erle Cox (1873-1950) (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erle_cox) is also listed on the Australiana page, as Cox was an Austrlaian writer and the book was set in Melbourne. The book also finds a place on our SF page (http://gutenberg.net.au/sfproject.html) as it is a work of Supernatural, or Speculative, Fiction. Far removed from the theme of 'Quintus Servinton', 'The Missing Angel' concerns a pact with the devil by the hero, Tydvil Jones. However, far from being a Faustian tragedy, this book is a tale with a twist and, after a slow beginning, is quite entertaining in its way.
A list of all the books we provide is available from http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty.html
Check there to see if there are other works by the authors listed
below
-- AUGUST POSTINGS -- Aug 2007 The Missing Angel, Erle Cox [070101xx.xxx] 1554A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0701011.txt or .zip Aug 2007 The Safety Pin, Joseph S Fletcher [070100xx.xxx] 1553A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0701001.txt or .zip Aug 2007 Mysteries and Adventures, Arthur Conan Doyle [070099xx.xxx] 1552A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700991.txt or .zip Aug 2007 Columbus, Rafael Sabatini [070098xx.xxx] 1551A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700981.txt or .zip Aug 2007 Quintus Servinton, Henry Savery [070097xx.xxx] 1550A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700971.txt or .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700971h.html Aug 2007 Kipps, H G Wells [070096xx.xxx] 1549A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700961.txt or .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700961h.html
Newsletter Editor: Colin Choat.
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