MERRUAU, Paul. ~ Les Convicts en Australie. Paris: [Lahure for] L. Hachette [Bibliothèque des Chemins de Fer], 1853.
16mo (176 × 110 mm), pp. [iv], 236, [4], plus 15, [1] (adverts). Original printed bright green wrappers, steam train vignette to lower cover, yellow endpapers. Spine slightly creased and marked (a row of small perforations), but overall bright and fresh. An appealing copy.
First edition, Bibliothèque des Chemins de Fer issue (of which it forms part of the second series). A fictional account of the voyage to Sydney, the convict regime, the Australian interior and the gold mines. Merruau’s list of sources includes the ‘Report of the Commissioner of Inquiry into the State of the Colony of New South Wales’ as well as Rowcroft’s Tales of the Colonies and Haygarth’s Bush Life in Australia. Ferguson, 12528 (first issue without adverts or, presumably, the Bibliothèque des Chemins de Fer series title.