Handwritten diary by John Olsen up for grabs - 05/08/2010

A rare book - a handwritten diary by Australian artist John Olsen, will be up for auction later this year.

Bonhams will be selling the tome that depicts Olsen's travels in Australia as part of its Travel and Exploration Sale in London on September 15th.

The handwritten account of a trip around the north west coast of Australia is expected to fetch between £30,000 and £40,000.

It is illustrated with 133 photographs and 42 original sketches by Olsen, who was born in 1928 and is famous for his landscapes.

The diary details the trip made by five famous Australians in 1982 including Olsen, writers Dame Mary Durack and Geoffrey Dutton among others.

Over ten days, the group visited Aboriginal communities and studied the land form of the area.

The Land Before Time is a book written in 1984, which celebrates the trip but Olsen and art dealer Alex Bortingnon collaborated on the diary.

Posted by Harry Baxter