Bendigo and Vicinity (First Edition)

The second of W. B. Kimberly’s commemorative goldfields histories, pairing a narrative of Bendigo’s past with biographies of its pioneers and leading men.

W. B. Kimberly was an American who came to Australia from Chicago in the mid-1880s. Bendigo and Vicinity followed his Ballarat and Vicinity of 1894 and was compiled with the Melbourne journalist J. J. Pascoe. Camberwell Books, an ILAB dealer, records that Pascoe wrote the history and helped with the biographies. The title page names the three parts of the plan: a comprehensive history of the town’s past, a rsum of its resources, and biographies of its representative pioneers, public, commercial and professional men. Robert Muir describes the work as a history of Bendigo and the goldfields, with biographies of the people, companies and industries. The Bendigo Advertiser reviewed it on 30 October 1895 and judged that it would “more than compare with” the Ballarat volume.

The biographies give the book lasting value beyond the narrative, since they record the town’s own leading figures as they stood in 1895. Kimberly and Pascoe repeated the formula for the History of West Australia in 1897, and the pair of Victorian volumes is cited in scholarship on the goldfields press.

Bendigo and Vicinity. A Comprehensive History of her Past, and a Resume of her Resources; together with the Biographies of her Representative Pioneers, Public, Commercial, and Professional Men.

First edition. Quarto. [iii], 273pp. Numerous monotone illustrations throughout. Original burgundy textured cloth, titled in gilt to cover. Very good/Near fine. Covers a bit marked, with fading to spine and edges. Contents generally clean and bright throughout.

This book is currently on display in our Paddington store.If you would like more information or to arrange a viewing, please contact: [email protected]

Catalogue Number: HH000796