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Back to Photographic Reproductions The first koala illustration book?
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A rare book is George Perry's 1811 work Arcana; or the Museum of Natural History... This book, known as Perry's Arcana, depicts several Australian animals, some illustrated for the first time. This KOALO, as he calls it, is one of the first published koalas. Perry's description of the koala is dismissive to say the least.Koalo, or New Holland Sloth. "Amongst the numerous and curious tribes of animals, which the hitherto almost undiscovered regions of New Holland have opened to our view, the creature we are now about to describe stands singularly pre-eminent. Whether we consider the uncouth and remarkable form of its body, which is particularly awkward and unwieldy, or its strange physiognomy and manner of living, we are at a loss to imagine for what particular scale of usefullness or happiness such an animal could by the great Author of Nature possibly be destined... As Nature however provides nothing in vain, we may suppose that even those torpid, senseless creatures are wisely intended to fill up one of the great links of the chain of animated nature..." [George Perry. Arcana; or the Museum of Natural History..., London, 1811]
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