Rare Book Find Sheds Light on Old Australian Mystery

Posted on October 19, 2011

Grant Gardner, an auctioneer for Gardner Galleries, found a real prize when evaluating an estate of a deceased couple. He found a 200 year old book was found in a closet, piled on a shelf with other books. The book of prints shows life in New South Wales in the early 1800s. The author, British Captain Wallis, took prisoners' art and passed the artwork off as his own.

For years, historians disputed that the captain had the skills to create such lovely paintings. Well, it turns out that he didn't. This book was his own personal copy -- he noted that convicts did the original artwork from which the prints were made. The captain was the warden of a prison colony, so he had access to free labor. The original paintings are contained in the book and are quite valuable from a historical perspective. The New South Wales Library has already bid $2 million for the book.

Here is a video of the unveiling of the book and album: