This carefully crafted book is the first comprehensive and scholarly collection of Barcroff's work. Commencing with with a 36 page biography, Barcroft's collected works are followed by notes and an index. The works are presented in two sections. First are all of those works Barcroft successfully submitted for publication, printed in the order in which they were first published. The other selected works that follow, some previously printed, others printed here for the first time, are arranged in the order of composition, so as to give some sense of the poet's development.

The author's objective, which has been well realised, is to make the book as uncluttered and easy as to read as possible, thus ensuring the necessary detailed editorial material remains inconspicuous though easy to access.

To aid the Boake scholar the author has prepared an outline map of Barcroft's Queensland droving trip (see link below). By concentrating on Queensland alone it provides a valuable opportunity to reference the names of some of the key localities that occur in Barcroft's letters and writings.

The author can be contacted at gemini@grapevine.net.au and the book is published by Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 2007, ISBN 978-1-74097-153-9. It can be ordered through bookshops or by contacting ASP directly.

I commend the book to all who have an interest in furthering their understanding of one of Australia's significant early poets.

Hugh Capel

 

Barcroft's Queensland Droving Route: 1889