On the cover this month
Salvador Rizo (1783–1817)
Mutisia clematis [detail]
reproduced from Flora de la Real Expedición Botánica
del Nuevo Reyno de Granada (1783–1816)
(Madrid: Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional, 2004)
This month’s cover shows a detail from one of the glorious botanical publications held in the Library’s Collection, Flora de la Real Expedición Botánica del Nuevo Reyno de Granada (1783–1816). A copy of this lavish 16-volume work, published in Madrid in 2004, was gifted to the Library by the Spanish Government in 2006 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of early Spanish exploration of the Pacific. The Flora Botánica celebrates the botanical explorations of José Celestino Mutis, ranging across a geographical area occupied by present-day Colombia, Panama, Venezuela and Ecuador. The findings of his expedition were depicted by a skilled school of artists (among them Salvador Rizo, whose work is shown here) during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Read the full article
May 2008 Volume XVIII Number 8
Flora Botanica: José Mutis’ grand botanical expedition
Fiona Massy reveals the colourful history behind one of the Library’s outstanding botanical works
Potency of the Pen
Jennifer Moran ponders the iconography of several pens in the Library’s Collection
Snooping around Flynn’s legacy
On the 80th anniversary of the Royal Flying Doctor Service this month, Ann Villiers pays tribute to John Flynn’s grand vision by dipping into his personal letters
Empire Day to Cracker Night revels
Ian Warden uses the Library’s Newspaper Collection to trace Empire Day’s fall from uplifting displays of imperial loyalty to larrikin ‘Cracker Nights’
The need for a National Library
Veronica Brady argues the case for seeing libraries, local and national, as indispensable resources
Friends
A regular news page about the activities of the Friends of the National Library of Australia
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