Wild Rivers: Photography by Peter Dombrovskis
Nature Photography Environmental Conservation Art & Culture Tasmanian History Landscape Photography Australian Wilderness
Wild Rivers: Photography by Peter Dombrovskis is the 1983 first-edition hardcover that introduced Australia to one of the most influential landscape photographers of the twentieth century. Shot in Tasmania’s untamed river systems, this large-format picture book delivers gallery-quality plates printed on heavy matte stock—each image sharp enough to reveal the texture of Huon-pine bark and the mist rising off a hidden gorge. For collectors of Australian photography or anyone searching for a vintage Dombrovskis monograph, this title predates his later best-sellers and is already scarce in clean, unmarked condition.
What makes the book so sought-after is the combination of Dombrovskis’s trademark large-format 6×7 cm transparencies and the oversized page layout that lets rivers such as the Franklin, Gordon and Denison fill the viewer’s field of vision. The accompanying text by Bob Brown frames the photographs as both art and conservation manifesto, giving readers the story behind the images that fuelled the 1983 blockade and eventual World-Heritage listing of south-west Tasmania. The result is a volume that works equally well as a coffee-table art book and as a historical document of Australia’s most successful environmental campaign.
This copy retains its original dust jacket and shows only negligible edge wear—no inscriptions, no ex-library marks, no dog-eared pages, and the binding remains square and tight. For collectors, that clean condition is key: most 1983 printings were heavily handled in protest camps and bookshops, so copies in this state are rapidly disappearing from the market. Whether you are completing a Dombrovskis collection, sourcing a meaningful gift for a wilderness lover, or looking for iconic Tasmanian décor, Wild Rivers offers a rare chance to own the photographer’s earliest published work in the format it was meant to be seen.
Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.
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