By Reef and Palm. With an Introduction by the Earl of Pembroke (The Autonym Library)
London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1894. Second Edition. Hardcover. Octavo : 220pp. : original maroon boards with gilt lettering and decorations to spine : author's facsimile signature on title page : top edge dyed, other edges speckled. Attractive bookplate for a John Stanton on front endpaper. Title is trimmed with some loss to last line cutting the lower half of "London 1984"; corners pressed, head and tail of spine a tad tender. Very Good. Item #4656
Becke has largely fallen off the radar in contemporary Australian literary criticism, but he was hailed "the Rudyard Kipling of the Pacific" and compared with Melville and Robert Louis Stevensen. Joseph Conrad is said to have envied him. "I am sorry to miss making the acquaintance of Mr. Becke...Strangely enough, I have been , only the other day, reading again his Reef and Palm. Apart from the great interest of the stories, what I admire most is his perfect unselfishness in the telling of them...He stands aloof from the poignancy and humour of his stories; a think I could never do - and which I envy him." (A. Grove Day, p.146).
By Reef and Palm was his first book. Originally published earlier the same year both the first and second editions are quite scarce.
Price: $440.00