The Respectable Sydney Merchant: A B Spark of Tempe by Graham Abbott and Geoffrey Little

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Foxing to top foredge. Dust jacket has wear to top edge. Dust jacket is now enclosed in a glossy protective cover. Interior and binding are still excellent.

This book is based on the surviving colonial diaries and the earlier English letters and journals of a Scottish migrant.

Alexander Brodie Spark (1792-1856) began his career as a struggling clerk, became a European tourist, and then, in the colony of New South Wales, rose from a speculative trader to a leading banker, merchant, and landowner.

At the same time, he was an influential churchman, a private collector, and a man of taste whose estate at Tempe boasted one of the best houses and most admired settings of the time.

A frequent visitor to Government House, he held a leading position in the colony's artificial and pretentious aristocracy. From this position, he fell into bankruptcy in a spectacular failure, which deeply affected both his personal and public life.

In this book, documents have been carefully edited to give Spark's English background before presenting his colonial activities in detail, to maintain a balance between the major events he recorded and the nature and qualities of the man. (book flap)