Cyclopedia Of Australasia, Antique Book by David Blair, History of selling Australia&New Zealand, 1881, Discoveries, Exploration, British Dominions

selling The title page sums up the enormous breadth of this book.:
A dictionary of facts, events, dates, persons, and places connected with the discovery, exploration, and the progress of the British Dominions in the South, from the earliest dawn of discovery in the Southern Ocean to the year 1881.
Clearly, this marvelous work of over 780 pages was part of the great thrust of learning which marked the last quarter of the 19th century. There is so much information inside on the state of the Australian colonies, New Zealand and the British South Pacific that historians could find most useful.
Outwardly the book is in excellent condition and belies its age of 140 years. Inside the book is good and sound with the binding fine and intact, however, there has been some rather inexpert repair made to a few pages with old sticky tape and this has left a few unsightly marks within the book, although it must be said that none of the text seems to have been rendered unreadable. All in all a very fine time capsule of Australasia's Victorian era and well worth its price.