"This is the first book edition of Barrington's famous work, following its original issue in fourteen weekly parts. The History, with its fourteen full-page plates, is one of the first books to show proper settlement in New South Wales - only Collins's Account of the Colony. published in 1798 contains earlier depictions. Despite questions about its actual authorship, this is a substantial and important account of early Sydney. The preface claims justifiably that 'no prior attempt has been made to produce a complete history of the Country itself, from its discovery, and an account of its inhabitants, their customs and manners.'.George Barrington had been transported to Sydney on the Third Fleet of 1791, already a legend as a rogue. Over the next decade English publishers used his notoriety to produce books on transportation and the new colony for a public eager for information."-- abebooks website.