This must be one of the earliest books Illustrated entirely with photo-halftone. There is no indication as to the photographer or author of the process, which, as one sees from the enlargement, leaves a strong pattern of squares defined by a vertical-horizontal grid. The wide tonal range of the process, with more detail than usual at this date, probably points to Ch. -C. Petit at a transitional and short-lived stage of his long engraving career. The prints are compelling and beautiful in a primitive way. [1]

In 1882 Marin la Meslée visited France where he read a paper to the Société de Géographie, Paris, and arranged for the publication by E. Plon & Cie of his L’Australie Nouvelle (1883). It describes in lively style his travels in the outback and his impressions of Australian life and society. It seems to have been well received in France but no English translation was published until 1972.