LINDSAY, Norman, Saturdee, Ure Smith Edition, Second Impression (1963)

Ure Smith, 1963, second impression (edition first published 1961, reprinted October 1963). Illustrated by the author.

Octavo, with text illustrations by Lindsay throughout. Original [cloth], in the original printed dust jacket with the price of 22/6 present on the front flap.

Saturdee is the second of Norman Lindsay’s three Redheap novels. It sits between Redheap (1930), which Australian Customs banned on publication, and Halfway to Anywhere (1947). It follows Peter Gimble and the small boys of Redheap, a town based on Creswick in the Ballarat district, where Lindsay grew up. The jacket flap quotes Douglas Stewart, who rated it above Twain’s Tom Sawyer as “more lifelike, a more authentic picture of boyhood.” The book is dedicated to John Tremearne.

Condition: Book Very Good. The text is clean with light even toning. The endpapers are toned, with darker browning where the jacket flaps rested and some scattered spotting. There is a Grahame Book Company, Sydney, bookseller’s ticket on the front pastedown, and an earlier owner’s pencilled price and stock number on the front free endpaper. Jacket Good plus: chipped with small loss at the head of the spine, a crease and short closed tear to the front panel along the spine fold, creasing to the spine, and light rubbing and edge wear. Price not clipped.

A sound copy of Lindsay’s best loved Redheap novel, in its original jacket and with good Sydney trade provenance.