Ralph Rashleigh, or The Life of an Exile

Edition limited of 1000 copies, inscribed by Colin Roderick, who wrote the introduction and notes.

First published in 1929, Ralph Rashleigh was re-edited in 1952 by Colin Roderick, whose claim for Tucker’s authorship has not been conclusively proved.

The case for Tucker rests on internal evidence (the manuscripts are in Tucker’s hand and the alias of Rosenberg is one he had used in 1826) and on the testimony of a resident of Port Macquarie, Charles Edwin Dick (1875-1953), who had in his youth heard of Tucker’s activities from ex-convicts still living there (three other plays were named) and who had in 1889 perused the manuscripts of two other prose works.

However, it had also been claimed that Tucker was merely a copyist of works originally composed by another and that the level of education required of the author of Ralph Rashleigh is not to be found in other examples of Tucker’s hand, such as the blackmailing letter of 1826 and official Port Macquarie papers of 1846. Until further evidence is produced, the question of authorship is likely to remain in dispute.

Though their authorship remains in doubt, the works attributed to Tucker occupy a significant place in the history of Australian literature. In particular Ralph Rashleigh, the fruit of a creative talent of high order, is of considerable importance both for its intrinsic literary merit and for its value as a social document.’ – Australian Dictionary of Biography 

Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine-titling on a black label and endpaper maps; with 10 monochrome photographic plates. Very good.