Although the history of anglophone Australian verse dates back to early colonial times, one of the first antipodean voices recognised as genuinely poetic was that of Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833 - 1870). During his short and tragic life, Gordon published two volumes of verse, the second of which was Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes, which appeared in the year of his death by suicide. Gordon's verses vary widely in quality, but do contain many lines of great power. Gordon was a skilled and adventurous horseman, and many of his poems relate to horses and horse riding. This reissued edition of Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes includes contributions from authors Douglas Sladen and Marcus Clarke, as well as an early review of Bush Ballads, published in The Argus newspaper, Melbourne. It also contains historical images associated with Adam Lindsay Gordon, which helps to convey the historical context of Gordon's work.

This volume examines a fundamental concept of language within a historical perspective. The concept is that of public and private communication, the historical period ranges from the late middle ages to the late modern, and the language is English. In short, what are the linguistic traits, discursive practices, communicative settings and intentions which identify and contrast public from private communication, supposing it is possible to make such a fine distinction? The volume contains contributions from top international scholars working in the fields of, for example, historical correspondence, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century print news, sixteenth-century liturgy and political discourse, the language of quack doctors, late modern travel writing, personal notebooks, and even the eighteenth-century public discourse of shopping. As this ground-breaking volume is not just about key concepts in the history of the English language, but also examines at a more general level the concept of private and public communication, the various chapters will interest scholars working in language and communication generally as well as English historical discourse.