Recent Acquisition Highlights
December 2006
Background
This report offers a review of recent significant acquisitions and trends in collection development activity in the National Library. It does not describe the large volume of acquisitions of both Australian and overseas materials that are routinely acquired through deposit, purchase or donation. During the current financial year it is estimated that the Library will acquire over 260 000 collection items in a wide range of formats.
Personal Papers of Patrick White
The highlight of the Library’s acquisitions during the period April to October 2006 was the October acquisition of the personal papers of Patrick White (MS 9982). During his lifetime, Australia’s only Nobel Laureate in Literature claimed that he destroyed all his manuscripts. A 1977 letter from White to former Director General of the National Library George Chandler making just this claim is currently part of the travelling Treasures from Australia’s Great Libraries exhibition. In 1991, the National Library and the State Library of New South Wales jointly purchased what was believed to be the only extant Patrick White manuscript (of his 1986 novel Memoirs of many in one) and scholars all over the world gave up hope of ever being able to view more than this single example of his working methods.
In August 2006, White’s Literary Executor, shortly after completing another sale to the National Library of an important set of White letters, offered the Library the current archive. It is magnificent, although incomplete. White clearly did destroy many of his manuscripts when the relevant works were published, but he also kept significant quantities of manuscript material. This includes 10 notebooks (containing the beginnings of at least 11 of White’s 12 novels); every draft of his 1981 autobiography Flaws in the Glass; typescripts, corrections and correspondence for three of his published novels; manuscripts for two unpublished novels and a novella; manuscripts and typescripts for several short stories; manuscripts for three late and publicly performed plays; manuscripts for several never performed plays; typescripts for several major plays and manuscripts for a significant number of poems, many contained within the notebooks.
In addition to this wealth of literary manuscript material, the collection includes: drafts of the important speeches given in White’s later life; some incoming and outgoing correspondence retained by White; a large number of photographs covering every period in his life; translations and adaptations of White’s work by others; diaries and personal documents; iconic objects including White’s beret and beanie, often worn in later portrait photographs and a substantial and profoundly moving collection of condolence letters sent to Manoly Lascaris, White’s partner of 49 years, after White’s death.
The significance of this collection to literary scholarship can hardly be overstated. White is by far Australia’s most written about writer (1600 articles had been written about White in 2001, compared to 900 about his nearest ‘competitor’ Henry Lawson) and continues to attract Australian and international scholarship. The availability of this collection which is on open access presents rich new seams for literary scholarship and will undoubtedly attract in depth research for years to come.
Australian Printed Materials
A major collecting priority for the National Library is literature on Pacific voyages, and the major figures involved in the European discovery and exploration of Australia and the Pacific. During the period covered by the report a number of important items were acquired by purchase from antiquarian dealers and at auction.
- Forster, Johann Reinhold, 1729-1798. Indische Zoologie, oder, Systematische Beschreibungen seltener und unkekannter Thiere aus Indien. Halle: bey Johann Jacob Gebauer, 1781. Folio, text in Latin and German, with 15 hand coloured plates. First edition and very rare: this study in zoology of the East Indies has a complicated publishing history. The drawings were made by Sydney Parkinson, botanical artist on the Endeavour and the first artist to set foot on Australian soil, and the text is by Johann Reinhold Forster, who travelled on Cook’s second voyage as a naturalist. The National Library holds other drawings and works by Parkinson including botanical and zoological plates not held in any other Australian library.
- Ray, John. Historia plantarum, species hactenus editas aliasque insuper multas noviter inventas & descriptas complectens. London: M Clark for HFaithorne, 1686-1704. Three volumes, folio; a fine set in a very attractive contemporary binding of mottled calf. First edition, complete with the rare and important third volume – which includes nine plants from the Western Australian coast brought to England by Dampier who explored the WA coast in 1699 – published 18 years after the main work in a single issue limited to only 200 copies. This was John Ray’s greatest work, the most important botanical text of the seventeenth century, and the foundation of modern botany, as well as being the only published seventeenth-century work referring to the natural history of Australia. One of the very few complete sets in Australia.
During the review period the Library purchased several interesting items featuring Australia’s kangaroo in children’s literature. The items showed varying images of the kangaroo and other Australian fauna. No holdings for these titles had been recorded on Libraries Australia.
- A popular introduction to the study of quadrupeds or of the Class Mammalia on scientific principles: adapted for youth with a particular notice of those mentioned in the scriptures. London: Printed for the Religious Tract Society, 1833. A young person’s guide to mammals. Australian species described in detail include the kangaroo, dugong and wombat.
- Gu’erin, Leon. Le conteur des petits enfants: Le Jardin des Plantes. Paris: Librairie d’Abel Ledoux, 1845. A French natural history primer which includes the platypus and kangaroo.
- M’egret, Luc. M’enagerie Janus la plus extraordinaire du Monde. Paris: g.Gerardin, ca. 1900. A French rag book for children which includes seven animals, including a kangaroo with a skipping rope. Each page is divided into three sections allowing for a myriad of fantastic combinations.
- Panorama van Vogels, Dieren & Visschen. Amsterdam: Jac. G. Pobbers, ca. 1890. A shaped panorama which shows three panels of animals, birds and fish from around the world. Includes the kangaroo, platypus and sulphur crested cockatoo. A very unusual Dutch imprint, teaching children about animals.
- Little Charley’s visit to the menagerie. Boston: Brown, Bazin & Co., 1855. An American natural history primer for children.
- Lemaitre, Jules. ABC petits contes. Tours: Maison Alfred Mame et fils, ca. 1919. A French alphabet book with animal fables for children.
- Hamman, Joe. Chasses et peches a travers le monde: album. Paris: Delagrave, 1932. An illustrated history of hunting and fishing throughout the world from ancient Egypt to the twentieth century. Australia is represented by the cassowary, kangaroo and platypus.
Other acquisitions of early Australian titles or editions not previously held by the Library include:
- Sowerby, G.B. A catalogue of the shells contained in the collection of the late Earl of Tankerville arranged according to the Lamarckian conchological system. London: E.J. Sterling for G.B. Sowerby, 1825. This catalogue is eligible for Ferguson’s Bibliography of Australia and contains descriptions of several rare and valuable shells, many of which can be traced back to Cook’s voyages. The item is very rare, no holdings on Libraries Australia and there appears to be only three holdings in libraries overseas.
- Rusden, George William. The discovery, survey, and settlement of Port Phillip. Melbourne: George Robertson, 1871. First edition, a rare variant – includes an additional map showing the earliest disposal of Crown Lands in the Port Phillip district of NSW in 1836. Also includes an additional folding facsimile of a letter by Matthew Flinders.
- Norman Lindsay et al. The key, containing picture, verse and story. Melbourne: Clarion Press, 1909. The key is very much a Lindsay family and in‑law affair, with extensive contributions from Norman and Lionel Lindsay; Ruby Lind; and Edward and Will Dyson, but with pieces contributed by many of their Melbourne comrades in the literary and artistic world. Very rare with only one other holding on Libraries Australia.
- Ellis, John. A description of the mangostan and the bread-fruit: the first esteemed one of the most delicious; the other, the most useful of all the fruits of the East Indies. London: Printed for the author and sold by Edward and Charles Dilly, 1775. 1st English edition. This early work identified the breadfruit as being an easily cultivated and harvested fruit suitable for transportation with possible cultivation in the West Indies. It is a primary background document associated with one of the reasons for Cook’s first voyage. There are no recorded copies of the English edition in Australia.
- Vaux, Charles Grant. Introduction to four new maps of the four quarters of the world in their true proportion and position. London: Charles Grant de Vaux, 1806. Vaux’s argument in this work is that the ancient concepts of the world needed to be reviewed upon Cook’s discoveries and he proposed the globe be divided roughly into four portions. Only one known Australian holding.
- Annales des voyages, de la g’eographie et de l’histoire: ou collection des voyages nouveaux les plus est’im’es, traduits de toutes les Langues Europ’eenes: des relations originales, in’edites, coommuniqu’ees par des voyageurs Francais et ‘Etrangers. Paris: Chez F. Buisson, 1809-1814. 2nd edition. 25 volumes. Volumes 3, 9-10, 13, 15, and 17-19 have articles, summaries and book reviews on Australia. Only one other holding on Libraries Australia.
The National Library collects posters as part of the Australian documentary heritage. Items acquired during the previous six months include:
- Collection of Red Planet posters. 18 posters on national issues by the artists of Red Planet and its amalgamated organisations Redletter Community Workshop (1977-1991) and Another Planet (1984-1991).
- Northfield, James. Fly Qantas. The river Derwent Tasmania for your next holiday. This 1960 Qantas travel poster complements the other items the Library holds by James Northfield. Printed by McLaren & Co. Melbourne.
- Trompf, Percy. Seek the winter sunshine at Mildura. Victorian Railways travel poster no. 87, printed by J.E. Hackett, Melbourne 1930. Complements other items the Library holds by iconic artist Percy Trompf.
- Trompf, Percy. World’s greatest air race for MacRobertson Trophy: England to Australia, Victorian and Melbourne Centenary 1934-35 (commencing October). Melbourne, Australian National Travel Association, [1934]. This acquisition complements material in the Manuscript collection on the MacRobertson International Air Race.
- Jardine, Walter. Tooheys Mild Bitter Ale. 1930s advertising poster by iconic Australian artist.
- Three advertising posters from the 1950s: Drive in for smiling service, Ampol for me says Shirley Abicair, who flies QANTAS; Vincent’s for headache; and Wrigley’s spearmint chewing gum for your daily enjoyment.
The Library’s collection of trade catalogues offers a unique view into industry, trade and Australian social history. An interesting range of catalogues have been purchased during the period under review:
- W.C. Penfold & Co. Illustrated Catalogue: Artists, Architects and Engineers’ Supplies. Sydney: WC Penfold, 1955.
- Lassetter’s Xmas gift book, 1917. Sydney: Printed by W.C. Penfold for Lassetter’s Mail Order, 1917. A remarkable example of this now very rare Australian mail-order catalogue, filled with tools, fashion, footwear, jewellery, domestic wares, children’s hampers and much more. Designed specifically for the Australian Christmas. No other known Australian holdings.
- Dangar, Gedye & Malloch. General catalogue, no. 53. Sydney: Dangar, Gedye & Malloch, ca. 1935. An early Australian trade catalogue featuring mechanical, engineering and building products. Agricultural products including sheep, shearing tools and machines, windmills, sheep jetters and rabbit exterminators.
- The Australasian Implement & House Furnishing Co. Catalogue, 1918-1919, Adelaide’s great house furnishing emporium. Adelaide: Sharples Bros, 1919. Includes a wide range of furnishings including seagrass furniture, bedsteads, cots, wire mattresses, deck chairs, ice and cool storage safes, sewing machines, stoves, wringers, saddlery, guns, garden equipment, pianos, linen, curtains, rugs and prams.
Australian Electronic Publications
In August and September 2006 the National Library of Australia conducted a project to undertake a second large scale harvest of the Australian web domain. The first harvest was performed the previous year and was the subject of a report to Council in April 2006. The objectives of harvesting the Australian web domain are to collect, for preservation purposes, as much, in terms of breadth and depth, of the .au domain as possible within a defined and limited crawl duration and to gain more understanding of the issues associated with this approach to digital archiving. The Internet Archive, being the only agency experienced in such large scale web harvesting for preservation purposes, was contracted to undertake the crawl on behalf of the Library. The harvest crawl was run continuously for five weeks and captured 516 million documents compared to 185 million files in 2005. The domain harvest provides a valuable benchmark and foundation for the National Library to develop future web archiving strategies and also provides the basis for the development of a significant collection of Australia’s documentary heritage for future generations.
Manuscripts
In addition to the major acquisition of the Patrick White papers, other significant acquisitions during the period include new collections from Papua New Guinea Patrol Officer Norman Wilson; dancer Joan Gadsdon; the records of the Commission of Enquiry into the Rehabilitation of the Worked out Phosphate Land in Nauru; the records of Pandanus Books and a small donation of correspondence from Edmund Barton to a Captain Chuck. There were also additions to the papers of Sir Ernest Littleton Groom (last acquired in the 1930s); League of Nations lawyer, the late Joe Starke; the Institute of Public Affairs; restaurateur Gay Bilson; dancers Peggy Van Praagh, Maroussia Richardson and Moya Beaver; folklorist Wendy Lowenstein; Aboriginal rights campaigners Jack and Jean Horner and Michael and Honor Thwaites; historians Professors Bill Gammage, Geoffrey Bolton and the late John Ritchie; writers Tom Inglis Moore, Barry Hill, Patricia Clarke and Paul Collins and Burmese leader Maung Maung .
Maps
The past six months acquisition activity was capped in October by the purchase of the Edgewater Collection of British Admiralty charts, on loan to the Library since 2002. While the National Library’s rare map collections include a good range of the Dutch, French and British mapping produced in the period 1600 1800, Admiralty charting in the period following Flinders is not particularly well represented. This collection of 99 original, first-issue nautical charts and views published by the Hydrographic Office for the British Admiralty, provides the first detailed charting of the Australian coastline published between 1814 1861 and is the largest single collection of pre 1900 Admiralty charting in any Australian institution. In addition to five charts by Flinders, the collection provides a very nearly complete record of the circumnavigation by Phillip Parker King in the 1820s. It is particularly strong in what is considered the detailed survey period (1837-1860s) including the surveys by J C Wickham and others of the north coast and Great Barrier Reef, and surveys of the western, southern and eastern coasts. It includes the first detailed harbour surveys of Port Jackson, Moreton and Holdfast Bays, and the Swan River mouth. The process encapsulated by the Admiralty Charts collection, from ‘sketch’ to detailed survey periods, paved the way for the beginnings of Australian commercial shipping.
The Library acquired three unusual globes of contrasting style and composition during this period. In May, a pocket-sized terrestrial globe was acquired, mounted in a mahogany stand, and constructed by Leonard Cushee in 1751. Used as a teaching aid, Australia is labelled 'New Holland' and 'Lewin' according to Dutch discoveries, while the eastern coastline is ill defined, with Van Dieman’s Land joined to the mainland. In August, a miniature terrestrial globe c. 1830 was acquired, The Earth and its Inhabitants, in its original container and with a long accordion fold hand coloured print attached, showing people of 32 different nationalities in native costumes. Also acquired in August was a large inflatable globe, constructed of paper over a bone and wood frame, by Philipp Cella in 1831. Originally made to accompany book and map sales, the globe shows the routes of several explorers, including Cook’s three circumnavigations, and indicates the location of the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789.
Three charts by Sir Robert Dudley (1573-1649) were acquired, covering Southeast Asia from northern Cape York Peninsula to the Spice Islands. One of these, Carta secona generale del'Asia, was originally bound as plate 17 in Dudley’s atlas, Arcano del mare, and is the first English map to show the discoveries of Dutch explorer Jan Carstensz. Continentem dudum notam componebat, by the priest and cartographer to Propaganda Fide in Rome, Giovanni Battista Nicolosi was also acquired. Dated 1660, it is unusual for the time in that it shows a vast south land and quite speculative Australian outline but includes some of the Dutch discoveries.
Music and Dance
A highly significant collection of personal papers, music and arts criticism from the estate of Curt and Maria Prerauer has been donated by Maria Prerauer’s nephew. The papers document Australian musical, literary and artistic life in the period 1934-2005. Highlights include documents about Curt’s dismissal by the Nazis in 1933 from his position as conductor at the Berlin State Opera, their radio scripts and commentaries about Australian culture in the 1950s and 60s prepared for German publishers and radio stations; drafts of their German translations of major Australian literary works, including Patrick White’s Riders in the Chariot and Ray Lawler’s Summer of the 17th Doll; performance memorabilia relating to their respective musical careers, including Maria’s premiering role in Wozzeck at Covent Garden in 1953; documents concerning the major Australian musical organisations established in the 1950s-70s; their own creative writings and musical works and a complete set of their published reviews and criticism from the 1940s until c.2001. Twelve boxes of letters to and from many of Australia’s most prominent artists and arts administrators include correspondence with Patrick White, Peter Sculthorpe, Don Banks and Richard Meale among others and are complemented by correspondence with leading international musicians such as Benjamin Britten, Alfred Brendl, Adrian Boult, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Otto Klemperer.
A collection of eight albums of historical sheet music, beautifully bound by their owner Eda White and in fine condition, was acquired. The volumes include 131 pieces of music published in Australia between 1901-1914 and sixteen composers not previously held in the Library. One album includes a 1907 version of Advance Australia Fair with a note by the composer about changes to the last verse.
The first sheet music item to be purchased by the Library from eBay proved a timely and delightful addition to the Library’s cricketing memorabilia. Keep your tail up, Kangaroo was published in 1932 for the 1932-33 Ashes series and includes Don Bradman jokes on the back cover. It is the 10 000th musical item in the Library’s collection to be digitised.
Curator Robyn Holmes interviewed the direct descendants of Christina Macpherson, composer of Waltzing Matilda, Dianne Baillieu, Joan McCrae and Alistair Macpherson, for the Oral History collection. The family had previously donated the original 1895 Waltzing Matilda manuscript currently on display in the National Treasures exhibition. Richard Magoffin, the most significant researcher of Waltzing Matilda, added documents to his collection of manuscripts before his recent death.
Oral History
Australian entrepreneurs and business executives have been the subjects of recent Oral History interviews, including Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon; Bill Rogers, former Chair of Woodside Petroleum amongst many other business appointments and John Ralph, retired CRA executive, all interviewed by Rob Linn. Mathieu Beauregard, theatre entrepreneur, was interviewed by Bill Stephens. Tim Fischer, former National Party politician was interviewed by Rob Linn not only about his political career, but also about his Directorships of Australian Agricultural Company Limited, Ausmore, Asia Pacific Transport and the Chairman of Tourism Australia. Kate Carnell, former ACT Chief Minister and businesswoman, was interviewed by Ann-Mari Jordens.
Victor Carroll, former editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, was interviewed by Daniel Connell. Actor/director John Bell was interviewed by James Waites and Bill Stephens interviewed musician and band leader Dennis Farrington, actor/director John Unicomb, choreographer Ivan King, now Curator of the Museum of Performing Arts in Perth; opera producer/director Stuart Maunder, Ballets Russes dancer and teacher Kiril Vassilkovsky and Reg Park, who has had an international career in choreographed ice skating performances.
Emeritus Professor Di Yerbury, the recently retired Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University, was interviewed by Dr Ann Moyal. Professors Warrick Couch, Head of the Physics Department at the University of New South Wales; John Storey, Head of the School of Physics at the University of New South Wales and Brian Schmidt, Federation Fellow at The Australian National University's Mount Stromlo Observatory, were all interviewed by Dr Ragbir Bhathal about Australian astronomy. Shortly after this interview Professor Schmidt was jointly awarded the 2006 Shaw Prize honouring major scientific breakthroughs. Peter Bassett-Smith, scientific cinematographer and botanist Raymond Specht were interviewed by Dr Martin Thomas.
There are a number of special and joint projects underway in Oral History and Folklore. As part of his history of pioneering figures in Asian Studies, Professor David Walker interviewed Alan Gregory, Ailsa and Din Zainu’ddin and Don Anderston. James Murdoch conducted 10 interviews in Bali with people who knew Donald Friend. For Seven Years On, which records interviews with upcoming Indigenous leaders, Carly Lane was interviewed by Professor Peter Read and Jackie Huggins, who also interviewed Ian Viner about the work of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. In three Australian Research Council funded projects, Monash University Professor Jenny Hocking interviewed Gough Whitlam for the political biography she is writing; Professor John Williams and Dr Fiona Wheeler from ANU interviewed Sir Anthony Mason for their oral history of the High Court and Peter Cole-Adams was interviewed by Dr Richard Trembath for the Melbourne University history of Australian war correspondents.
US academic Professor Colin Davis conducted 13 interviews with people engaged in the maritime economy of Broome. Serbian refugee and former detainee Gyzele Osmani and Polish refugee Peter Witting were interviewed by Ann-Mari Jordens and Polish-Australian Euguene Bajkowski was interviewed by Dr Barry York. In the very successful Drovers Project a further 47 interviews were added by Professor Bill Gammage and his drover co-interviewer Bruce Simpson.
The most exciting Folklore acquisition is that of the Mark Schuster Collection. The collection, assembled over 25 years, represents interviews with immigrants and their descendants from Germany, who settled in Queensland farming communities from the mid nineteenth century until the first decade of the twentieth. The collection documents the social, cultural and musical life of the community from the time when solid German respectability was its hallmark, through to the periods of anti German sentiment during two world wars.
Other folklore recordings were collected by Rob Willis in the Euabalong, Kempsey, Condobolin and Forbes regions of New South Wales and from Mount Gambier, Prospect, Adelaide and Holden Hills in South Australia. He also undertook recordings in Western Australia in a project jointly supported by the Library and the folklore archive at Curtin University. Dale Dengate and Gay Scott were interviewed by Jenny Gall as a record of the involvement of women in the Australian Folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s.
Pictures
The major purchase made for the Pictures Collection in the period April to October was a group of five panoramic colour photographs from Anne Zahalka’s Leisureland series taken between 1998 and 2000. The large format photographs, measuring up to 115 x 245 centimetres, document the Crowning Ceremony at the Grafton Jacaranda Festival, the Sydney IMAX cinema and gambling hall at Star City Casino, Robosaurus, and Oceanworld. It is pleasing to have a photographic record of the interior of the IMAX cinema which is challenging to capture photographically.
Other purchases included an oil portrait of writer Kylie Tennant by Nan Paterson; twenty cartoons by Judy Horacek and fifteen photographs of Frank Hurley at work, one of which shows Hurley and his daughter making the composite images for which the photographer was so well-known.
Youth culture continues to be a theme in photographic collecting with images showing night clubbing, body piercing, snow boarding and drug use acquired.
The Pictures Collection also received some important material by donation. Four leather bound sketchbooks containing 235 drawings by Richard Wingfield Stuart were donated. Stuart was a station owner, renowned horseman and amateur artist. The sketchbooks include lively drawings of station life in Queensland in the 1870s.
Fifteen photographs from Matthew Sleeth’s Tour of Duty series, 1999-2000 were donated to the Library by Patrick Corrigan, AM. The photographs document aspects of Australian participation in the United Nations sanctioned InterFET force in East Timor and complement sixteen photographs from the Tour of Duty series purchased by the Library from Matthew Sleeth in 2003.
A sketch by Dr Seuss of a ‘Beatle-haired platypusss [sic]’, circa 1968, was donated by the daughter of his Australian publisher. This sketch, made while Theodore Geisel visited Australia, depicts a platypus with a Beatles-inspired hairdo.
Asian Publications
During the period Asian Collections acquired a complete set of Kogei [crafts], the official journal of the Nihon Mingei Kyōkai [Japanese Arts and Crafts Association]. A major source on the Japanese arts and crafts movement of the early 20th century, the journal Kogei [Crafts] was edited and published by the founder of the Japanese Arts and Crafts Association, Yanagi Muneyoshi (1889-1961). Muneyoshi drew attention to the neglected traditions of folk art and handmade objects used in daily life. The products of various local folk craft traditions included works of pottery, dyeing, weaving, metal work, lacquerware and crafts, using wood, bamboo, leather, and paper. The essence of folk art was that it was anonymous, created by individual artisans who made beautiful and functional things for everyday use. Japanese industrialisation and mass production threatened to wipe out these traditional arts and Muneyoshi’s campaign to re-invigorate the appreciation of traditional arts and crafts of the people was a critical factor in their survival to this day. Muneyoshi and his contemporaries influenced the development of the British arts and crafts movement of the early twentieth century, which itself drew inspiration from John Ruskin, William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelite movement of the late 19th century. The Library’s set of Kogei is complete in 120 issues published over 20 years, from 1931 to 1951 and was acquired from the Japanese antiquarian book dealer Isseido. The issues are in excellent condition and all have the original hand painted linen covers with striking designs and motifs. Many issues contain samples of textiles, dyes and papers discussed in articles.
Other Overseas Publications
In addition to collecting a wide range of books and journals published overseas, the Library also acquires electronic and microform research collections to complement and enhance the print collection. During the last six months, the following major resources have been made available:
- More than 500 titles from a private collection on Middle East political affairs were purchased from a German book dealer. The books were from the estate of a well-known British orientalist and most were published between the early 1950s and the late 1990s. Although the Library does not collect heavily in this area, the collection of research level works is a useful supplement to our holdings.
- A collection of nearly 500 titles published by The Women’s Press in London was donated by the Australian author, Stephanie Dowrick, who founded the Press in 1977 and was the Managing Director for five years. The Press published feminist fiction and non-fiction by outstanding women writers from around the world. This collection was donated under the Cultural Gifts Program.
- 93 monographs, 130 serial issues and six maps were acquired from a successful acquisitions trip to French Polynesia and the Cook Islands undertaken by a staff member in May. Collecting from the Pacific is a challenging and difficult process, and the Library endeavours to conduct regular acquisition trips to the region in order to supplement material received through library suppliers. In French Polynesia contact was made with 32 institutions, including government departments, publishers and bookshops, while 18 institutions, mostly government departments, were visited in the Cook Islands.
- East meets West: original records of Western traders, travellers, missionaries and diplomats to 1852, part 4 is a microform collection containing 25 reels of microfilm which complement parts 1-3 already held.
- Describing Papua New Guinea, 1945--1975 is a microform collection (53microfiche) of 29 interviews on the history of ethnographic description. The interviewees were all involved in describing the indigenous population of PNG in the decades leading up to Independence.
- Military intelligence on China: China-Boxers expedition, 1900-1903 (58 microfiche) and Military intelligence on China: gazetteers, reports, etc., 1884-1930 (127 microfiche) comprise a microform collection covering the period up to and beyond the third British military expedition against China in 1900 when British India played the leading role. It comes from material from the India Office Records at the British Library.
- East India Company Factory Records, part 2, China Factory Records, 1817-1832 is a microform collection of 34 reels that complement the earlier part on Japan and China.
The Library continues to acquire a small number of rare items which fill gaps or which otherwise make a substantial contribution to an area of existing strength within the present collection. Acquisitions during the last six months include:
- [Take over of the United States of America Embassy, Teheran, Iran, on November 4 1979]. Five volumes of an Iranian publication of US government documents were purchased from Pacific Book House. When Iranian students took over the American Embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979, the American staff did not have time to destroy all the classified documents although many were shredded. The Iranian government then spent years having the documents reassembled from the shredded paper so they could publish them. These five volumes of this unique material are part of a set of at least 19 volumes.
- Description Générale de la Chine, L’Abbé Grosier. Paris: Moutard, 1787. This two volume work contains some large folding maps of China and a number of folded engravings. The work features descriptions of the 15 provinces of China as well as material on the natural history, religion, customs and government.
- A Gaelic prayer book that had been in a family for more than 150 years. The English title of the work is A Manual of Devotion for Family and Secret Prayer. It was published in Edinburgh in 1829 and does not appear to be held elsewhere in Australia.
- A Paper Snowstorm: Tony Savage & the Leicester Broadsheets, Derek Deadman and Rigby Graham. Oldham: Incline Press, 2005. This limited edition hand-made book includes a listing of broadsides issued with Leicestershire imprints and a portfolio of 14 broadsides.
- Pages from presses: Kelmscott, Ashendene, Doves, Eragny, Vale & Essex House, with a commentary by David Butcher. Leominster, Herefordshire, UK: The Whittington Press, c2006. This beautiful limited edition work contains original leaves from the major British private presses of the 1890s and early 1900s. The leaves demonstrate the quality of work of each press, including the design, layout, inking and decorative devices. The Library’s copy is one of 50 such copies, bound in full Nigerian goatskin with marbled endpapers and issued with a separate portfolio of assorted leaves, all housed in a solander box.
- The wisdom of the Cymry, translated from the Welsh triads by Winifred Faraday. [London]: Golden Cockerel Press, [1939]. This limited edition of 60 copies has a title page engraved in wood by Averil Mackenzie-Grieve.
- Forty sheets to the wind: a new portfolio of old typefaces. Oldham, England: Incline Press, 1999. This is a portfolio of 49 broadsides illustrating different typefaces and printing techniques, with a separate folder containing seven duplicate broadsides. The Library’s copy is no. 80 of 150 copies.
- Stanley Morison's egg-sandwich exegesis: a lost Morison fragment, by Stanley Morison with a preface by Alejandra Broma. Vancouver: Inferno Press, 2005. Morison was a famous English typographer, designer and historian of printing, particularly remembered for his design of Times New Roman, later called the most successful typeface of the first half of the twentieth century. The Library’s copy is no. 39 of 100 copies.
