Paper Nation: The Story of the Picturesque Atlas of Australia 1886-1888

The massive, three-volume Picturesque Atlas of Australia was first published in Sydney in 1886. Its publication was one of the most significant cultural projects in 19th-century Australia. Writers, artists, academics, and politicians came together to prepare a book of unprecedented grandeur and ambition, and a publishing company was established to publish it. The 700 engravings on steel and wood contained in the Picturesque Atlas were among the finest engravings to be found anywhere in the world at this time.