Australia Twice Traversed

Giles, Ernest Australia Twice Traversed: The Romance of Exploration [Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, Limited, London, 1889] Two volumes, octavo, with plates, folding coloured maps and illustrations in the text; in the fully pictorial grey-green cloth boards, lettered in gilt. Australia Twice Traversed represents the collected narratives of Ernest Giles's five expeditions through the centre and the west of Australia from 1872 to 1876. He struggled to find an overland route to Western Australia, but it was not until his expedition of 1875-6 that he achieved the extraordinary feat of crossing the continent from South to Western Australia, via the Great Victoria Desert, and returning via Gibson's Desert (which he had earlier named after one of his men).This is among the most handsome of nineteenth-century Australian books, and one of the most popular of all Australian exploration accounts. Spines a bit rubbed, slightly loose, corners and extremities slightly frayed. Some tone spotting throughout.