Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, a swindler and thief, now transported to New South Wales for the second time, and for life. Written by himself. Second edition.London, Whittaker, Treacher, & Arnot, 1830. 12mo. Publisher's green cloth.

[2], XXIV, 288 pp."Fourth" edition, as part of a series of notable autobiographies, of the first full-length autobiography written in Australia. In his memoirs, James Hardy Vaux (1782-after 1841) describes the first 32 years of his life, during which he was twice transported to Australia for petty theft. A professional thief by the age of 18 he was sentenced to transportation for seven years for stealing a handkerchief and worked as a clerk at the Hawkesbury, in Sydney and in Parramatta from 1801 to 1807, after he which he returned to London. Two years later he was sentenced to transportation for life for stealing from a jeweller's shop. Vaux had already written a slag dictionary for use of the magistrates and was encouraged to write his memoirs, by which he hoped to gain the patronage of the commandant of the settlement of Newcastle. The manuscript came into the hands of Barron Field, who arranged to have it published in London in 1819. A second edition appeared in 1827, which was reprinted in 1829 and 1830. By that time Vaux had been pardoned, but once again sentenced to transportation for seven years for forging banknotes. In 1837 he returned to Sydney but in 1839 was sentenced to two years imprisonment for assaulting a young girl. After his release in 1841, Vaux disappeared. First quire somewhat loose, otherwise in good condition.l Fink, "Vaux, James Hardy (1782 - 1814)", in: Australian Dictionary of Biography II, pp. 552-553; Spence, A bibliography of selected early books and pamphlets relation to Australia, p. 77.