Early Australian printed works, or works that are extremely scarce, are always sought by the Library. It was gratifying to receive I zoi en Australia: biblion egkyklopaidikon meta pleiston kallitechnikon eikonon, biographikon semeioseon. Sydney. Australias, 1916. (Melbourne, Australia Printing and Publishing Co.) This is believed to be the first Greek book published in Australia. The publication was received by donation in response to the article on multicultural items in the November National Library of Australia News. It is a rare publication and is not held by any library in Australia. It lists approximately 200 Greek businesses and businessmen throughout Australia and gives biographies, histories of Greek communities and a general description of Australia.
A notable and rare work that completes the Library's very strong holdings relating to exploration of the region was Freminville, Chevalier de. Nouvelle relation du voyage a la recherché de La Perouse execute par ordre du roi pendant les annees 1791, 1792, 1793 et 1794 par M. D'Entrecasteaux. Brest, J.-B. Lefournier, 1838. A secondary source based on the primary sources of D'Entrecasteaux, Labillardiere (naturalist) and Rossel, as well as recollections of other members of D'Entrecasteaux's expedition, it is significant as the first published work after the two primary sources of 1799 by Labillardiere and 1808 Rossel. It is then followed by other secondary sources. The Library holds all accounts except Freminville's, thus the acquisition closes an important gap for researchers.
Other early Australian titles or editions not previously held by the Library include:
The Library's collection of Australian online publications is growing steadily as important documents and websites are selected to form part of the national collection of online publications. At present the collection consists of 2,297 files. An important addition to this newer form of acquisition has been the addition of all federal election campaign sites for the 2001 election. Many of these sites have since been taken down by the originators, and can only be accessed in the National Library's online collection.
Oliver Mann, Regional Officer at the Indonesian Acquisition Office, made a field trip to Dili in East Timor as well as to Bali in February 2002. In Dili he made useful contacts with United Nations agencies, non-government organisations, the Xanana Gusmao Reading Room, the National University Library, and the Australian Government Mission in East Timor. The Mission has been regularly supplying Timorese newspapers to the Library, and this will now be supplemented with serial titles and forthcoming UN publications. Mr Mann acquired a large amount of material for the Library, including a complete set of the Official Gazette of East Timor, and other United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) materials. Only by undertaking acquisition trips can the Library obtain material for researchers from areas such as East Timor where there will be no organised book trade for many years.
The Library has received an important donation of publications, which belonged to the prominent art teacher and gallery director Bronwyn Thomas (1923-2000). Her library of books and periodicals reflects her wide artistic interests and extensive travel in Asia, Europe and the Americas. The core of the collection relates to China, including a number of works in Chinese. While art is the major focus, there are also publications on China's history, language and literature, reprints of early travels and translations of Chinese classical and modern authors. The beautifully illustrated works on Chinese art include Yu Zhuoyun's Palaces of the Forbidden City; Li Zehou's The path of beauty; a study of Chinese aesthetics; Masterworks of Ming and Qing painting from the Forbidden City; Zhang Anzhi's History of Chinese painting; Joan Cohen's The new Chinese painting, 1949-1986; Thomas Lawton's Chinese figure painting; Chongnian Yan's Beijing: the treasures of an ancient capital; James Cahill's Hills beyond a river: Chinese painting of the Yuan Dynasty, 1279-1368 and his Parting at the shore : Chinese painting of the early and middle Ming Dynasty, 1368-1580. Andrew and Michael Yeates, Bronwyn's sons, have donated the publications to the National Library. They have also presented their mother's papers, which are housed in Manuscripts.
Several important works have been purchased relating to Japan's attempts to expand its territories leading to the Second World War. They include Dai Nihon fuken betsu narabi chimei daiken = Atlas of Japan, a US wartime reprint from 1944 of a Japanese language atlas containing 104 maps of Japan and Japanese-held territories in Taiwan, Korea, the South Pacific, Manchuria and China; an 8 volume reprint of two serial titles Hoso nusu kaisetsu and Kokusaku hoso, covering radio broadcasts in wartime Japan and originally published 1937-1943; and Kokuryukai kankei shiryoshu, a ten volume collection of documents on the ultranationalist group "Kokuryukai" or the Amur River Society, which promoted Japanese imperial expansion between 1900 and 1945.
The Library's considerable strengths on many aspects of Buddhism have been augmented by recent acquisitions including Fo jiao xiang guan bo shuo shi lun wen ti yao, a Taiwan listing of abstracts of theses on Buddhism from 1963 to 2000; Splendour in wood : the Buddhist monasteries of Burma; and Tang Xiantong nian ke ben Jin gang bo re bo luo mi jing, a scroll reproduction from China of the Buddhist Vajracchedika sutra, believed to be the earliest published work in the world and dated 868 AD.
During the last six months, the Library has acquired a number of rare overseas publications that have considerably enhanced the rare book collection. Two are facsimiles of Leonardo da Vinci manuscripts: Codice Leicester ("Codex Leicester") is a facsimile of Leonardo da Vinci's manuscript treatise on water dynamics while Il Codice Arundel 163 nella British Library ("Codex Arundel") is a facsimile of a collection of papers assembled after the death of Da Vinci and edited by Carlo Pedretti, the leading modern authority on Da Vinci's manuscripts. The original Codex Arundel, named after Thomas Howard, the Earl of Arundel (1586-1646), is now housed in the British Library. The facsimile work is in two very large volumes bound in full leather, and was purchased through the Acquisitions Trust Fund. Also acquired recently was La primera vuelta al mundo : protagonistas, genesis y desarollo a traves de los documentos, which is a facsimile of documents relating to Magellan and Elcano and the first circumnavigation of the world.
Voyages also feature in four rare books acquired that relate to imaginary voyages, utopias and invented worlds. The notion of an ideal society is often interwoven with the history of actual voyages and so the works often use real 18th century Pacific voyages as camouflage for the imaginary voyages. The works comprise: Abbé Morelly's Naufrage des Isles Flottantes, ou Basiliade du célèbre Pilpai, Poëme Héroïque. Published in Paris in 1753, this work is considered to be one of the most important utopian works of the 18th century. Nicolas Bricaire de la Dixmerie's Le sauvage de Taïti aux Français; avec un envoi au philosophe ami des sauvages. Published in London and Paris in 1770, this fictional work takes the form of a letter supposedly written by Aotourou, the Tahitian who returned to Paris with Bougainville. Guillaume Grivel's L'Isle inconnue, ou Memoires du Chevalier des Gastines. Published in Paris from 1783 to 1787, this 6-volume work shows familiarity with the works of both Cook and Bougainville. Thomas Erskine's Armata : a fragment. Published in London in 1817, this account of an imaginary voyage includes New South Wales, Antarctic waters and the South Pole, which proves to be attached by means of a long channel to another planet, the twin of Earth.
The earliest documents acquired were seven letters of Alexandre d'Auribeau, written in 1793 and describing the French expedition to the Pacific, led by Admiral Antoine d'Entrecasteaux, in search of La Perouse. Another early acquisition was a group of letters of the Dickens Family, including several letters to Alfred Dickens, the son of Charles Dickens, who emigrated to Australia in 1867.
The bulk of manuscript acquisitions comprised the personal papers of notable Australians in various walks of life. They included:
Among the organisations that transferred archival records to the Library were the Blake Society of Religious Art, the Australian Council of Archives, Australasian Political Studies Association, Institute of Cultural Affairs (Australia) and the Australian Student Christian Movement.
The last six months have seen some very notable cartographic acquisitions including:
The British Ministry of Defence donated twenty early maps of Australia including a rare 1935 1:31 680 special map of Darwin and an 1886 map of the counties of SA with manuscript annotations. The Library also received a donation of 210 thematic single and series mapping relating to Japan, China, Fiji, Kampuchea, and other SE Asian and Pacific territories from the Ministry of Defence, Singapore.
Outstanding additions to the Library's Oral History collection since October, 2001 include interviews with the former Chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, Evelyn Scott; the current Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, the Hon. Clare Martin, M.P; former Commonwealth Attorney-General and Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon. R. J. Ellicott, Q.C; botanical artist Celia Rosser; newspaper illustrator Stuart Krygsman; linguist Professor Anna Wierzbicka; writer and broadcaster Bill Bunbury; Mrs. Bonita Mabo; the Governor of W.A., H.E. Lt. Gen. John Sanderson; the epidemiologist Professor Tony Adams; interior designer Leslie Walford; journalist Stewart Cockburn; author Joan Phipson; ballet dancer Robin Haig; ballet director William Akers; the former head of the National Mapping Authority, Anthony Bomford; music director Michael Wade; and popular entertainers Lucky Starr and Lonnie Lee.
Four presentation plans and drawings by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin were acquired at auction in Sydney on 9 May. The works came from the estate of Eric Nicholls, a partner in the Griffin's Sydney practice. Included in the purchase are a perspective view, probably drawn on silk by Marion Griffin, of the 1922 house for the Reverend Cheok Hong Cheong, which still stands at Lot 53 The Parapet, Castlecrag. The design for the Cheong house is a significant representation of the Griffin's Australian designs and the importance they placed on landscape and environment. The designs for a club house in Niles, Michigan; the Melson residence in Mason City, Iowa (both buildings still standing) and a speculative residential design prepared for William F. Tempel, a Chicago developer, are significant as examples of the type of presentation drawing brought to Australia by the Griffins and used to promote their work to Australia clients.
The Library's collection of portraits relating to exploration and explorers was enhanced by the purchase at auction of an 1860 watercolour of the explorer Charles Sturt as a child, with his brother. The Sturt family's social status, and emphasis on riding skills and education, are indicated in the costumes of the two boys and the items they hold. The artist is unknown, and the painting was probably painted in England. The Library holds only one other portrait of Sturt, a small wood engraving published nearly 30 years after his death in 1895.
Four watercolours related to the Murray family of Yarralumla were donated by a descendant. The pictures comprise an 1846 portrait of Mary Murray with her daughter, Leila by William Nicholas, Grindell's portrait of James Aubrey Gibbes Murray and his half brother James Hubert Plunket Murray at Winderradeen, 1863; a portrait of Mary Murray, standing; and Winderradeen, the Murray family homestead. The Murray family played a significant part in the early development of the New South Wales pastoral industry. Sir Terence Aubrey Murray (1810-1873) migrated from Ireland, took up land at Lake Bathurst and later land north of Lake George. He held office in the NSW Legislative Assembly and was knighted in 1869. His son, George Gilbert Aime Murray (1866-1957) was Professor of Greek at Glasgow and Oxford universities, Chairman of the League of Nations (1922-1938) and helped found the United Nations Association. Hubert Murray (1861-1940) was Lt. Governor of Papua (1908-1940).
Trish Ainslie and Roger Garwood supplied the Library with sixty large, exhibition-quality prints of photographs documenting rural life in Western Australia and Bass Strait. The collection includes images of salmon fishing, mutton birding on Big Dog Island, olive oil production at New Norcia mission, and the pearl industry at Broome. The acquisition also included twelve colour transparencies documenting the work of a professional kangaroo shooter.
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