A companion civic history to Cooper’s better-known History of St Kilda, and still a directly quoted primary source in contemporary academic research into inner-Melbourne heritage a book that preserves, among much else, the original error that gave this Melbourne suburb its permanent name.

Prahran’s name is, remarkably, a documented mistake: when surveyor-general Robert Hoddle sought the local Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung name for the area, believed to mean “land surrounded by water,”. The Aboriginal Protector recorded it in a letter as “Prarran”, but Hoddle transcribed it incorrectly on his 1840 survey map as “Prahran,”. The error became permanent, giving the suburb its name to this day.

Cooper’s history, commissioned in the same civic tradition as his later companion volume on neighbouring St Kilda and bearing the same official municipal seal to its cover, traces Prahran’s development from its origins as low-lying, swampy farming country through its rapid transformation into a substantial Melbourne suburb, drawing on original municipal records and firsthand local knowledge unavailable to most later historians.

Revised edition, extending Cooper’s original 1912 history by over a decade.Large octavo. Numerous colour and monotone illustrations throughout. xvi, 372pp. Vertically-grained green buckram. Gilt titling to spine. City of Prahran seal to front cover in gilt. Coloured frontispiece. Spine a bit shelf darkened, gilt somewhat dulled. Covers marked. Endpapers toned and some faint foxing along edges. Overall, a very good copy.

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Catalogue Number: HH000830