NOTES AND COMMENTS

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 9, Issue 2, 1 October 1976, Page 60

NOTES AND COMMENTS

A. G. Bagnall

Friends Gift to mark Caxton Quincentenary The Committee of the Friends of the Turnbull Library have decided to donate to the Library' the Scolar Press facsimile editions of three of William Caxton’s most interesting books to mark the quincentenary of the establishment of the first printing press in England in 1476. The three items are Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur (1485) from the only known complete copy in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York; Aesop’s Fables (1484) from the only known perfect copy in the Royal Library, Windsor; and Jacobus de Cessolis’ Game and Play of the Chess (ca. 1482). These Scolar editions will make accessible as never before a group of works whose bibliographical importance and rarity is matched by their literary and historic interest. They amply display Caxton’s craft as a printer, his enterprise as a publisher, and his abilities as scholar, editor and translator. The cost of the set will be £210.00. The Library is planning to display the three facsimiles in an exhibition of early printing to be mounted late in 1976.

Important Paintin£ of Heke’s War Donated The Library holds a most useful collection of nearly 40 paintings by Major Cyprian Bridge (later Colonel) and Lance-Sergeant John Williams, mostly in watercolours but including some crayons and sepia washes. Almost all relate to the Northland engagements of the eighteenforties. Some are in duplicate, a few in triplicate, for John Williams not infrequently made copies after Bridge—and also after watercolours by other officers. Unusually for that somewhat class-conscious period, the Major and the Lance-Sergeant even shared a sketchbook, hence it would seem that the latter’s artistic ability enabled him to break the normal bounds of military rank. An interesting acquisition, over twenty years ago, came from a descendant of Bridge, in the form of 10 watercolours which had been copied for the artist, in England, from his originals which are now also in the Library.

The latest Bridge watercolour is of particular interest and was donated through the good offices of Mrs A. L. Smythe, another descendant of the artist. When she called at the Library last year, the routine enquiry was made of her as to whether she might possibly have any paintings or manuscripts of her ancestor’s. She did not; but mentioned that a cousin in England owned a watercolour by Cyprian Bridge. At her request that lady most generously sent out the painting, as a donation to the Turnbull. It is particularly useful historically as it closely resembles another

watercolour by Bridge in the Library and another again, by John Williams (one of four by that artist held in the Hocken Library, Dunedin). All are from approximately the same vantage point but vary slightly in their depiction of the Battle of Puke tutu (sometimes known as Te Mawhe or as Okaihau, at the time). On 8 May 1845 the British forces under Lt.-Col. Hulme attacked Hone Heke’s large and strongly fortified pa but after a day’s bitter fighting, with heavy casualties on both sides, were forced to withdraw. The three watercolours show stages of the attack, including a group of friendly Maoris in the foreground. Puketutu stood close to Lake Omapere and the new acquisition clearly shows in much greater detail, along with other new information, how the wounded were evacuated along the marshy shores of the lake. The Library, and future historians researching this engagement, must be grateful to the two ladies responsible for this most worthwhile addition to our records.

Turnbull Contribution to Govett-Brewster Gallery Exhibition An exhibition entitled ‘Painting in Taranaki’ was held at the GovettBrewster Art Gallery 16 September to 10 October. Thirty-four items from the Alexander Turnbull Library were included in the exhibition. Part of the intention was to discover if there is ‘Taranaki art’; certainly there is art which describes Taranaki. Mount Egmont, of course, has had an almost alarming attraction as a subject but it is interesting to realise that two of the most important paintings in New Zealand art ‘Mount Egmont from the south’ by Charles Heaphy and ‘Taranaki’ by Christopher Perkins, have been inspired by this backdrop to New Plymouth. The paintings from the Turnbull Library included views ranging from the early primitive, James Crawford, to the more ‘artistic’, by C. D. Barraud.

The exhibition has provided an excellent opportunity to show a series of Taranaki views by Sir William Fox. These were painted in his later period and use brilliant colours with almost naive enthusiasm. Sketches made by soldiers during the Maori wars feature prominently but there are lesser known artists such as Sophia Lysaght and a lively view on an expedition on the Mokau River by Stephenson Percy Smith. However, the exhibition in Taranaki of these paintings from the Alexander Turnbull Library was not achieved without a great deal of time and effort. There is a question of responsibility —should important and irreplaceable paintings travel round the country? If one decides to take the risk, what is the safest way to travel? Then they have to be listed, photographed, mounted. All this means a strain on the Library’s already over-extended resources, a strain which will affect increasingly the Library’s ability to implement its policy of making its collections available to other institutions.

New Zealand National Bibliography to 1960 The three volumes of the retrospective New Zealand National Bibliography which have been published so far have received only passing mention in this journal. This may possibly be explained by the close association between the Library and the editor of both the Bibliography and the Record, Mr A. G. Bagnall. It is appropriate to draw attention to the project now, as with the publication by the Government Printer of Volume IV (P-Z) in April this year the alphabetical main entry sequence of some 27,000 items for 1890-1960 was completed. Apart frcm those items to 1909 included in Dr Hocken’s bibliography there has previously been no cumulative bibliographical approach to the period.

Volume II (A-H) was published in 1970 and Volume 111 in 1972; for the former the editor received the John Harris Award. This New Zealand Library Association award is for ‘the published record of notable work, whether in the bibliographical, critical, historical or administrative fields which will be a contribution to New Zealand librarianship’ and since its institution in 1962 there have been only three other recipients. The three volumes of the bibliography published so far are the tangible result of nearly 30 years’ dedication to a task which is now approaching completion. Final checking of entries for Volume I (to 1889) has begun—the scope limitations for this period are wider, particularly to 1869, and entries will be lined off in descriptive bibliographical form so there will be immediate differences from Volumes 11-IV, but similarities to Dr Hocken’s work. The number of entries already prepared and those which have yet to be done indicate that there will be approximately 5,000 items—Dr Hocken’s bibliography (to 1909) contains 3,500 —considerably more than originally anticipated.

To complete the set of 5 volumes as originally planned is the Index and Supplement volume —the supplementary section including corrections and amplifications to existing entries as well as items recorded for the first time. The Index will provide approaches by subject, title and added authors where appropriate. Although it is difficult to give a likely publication date for Volumes I and V, it is hoped that entries will be ready for the press by the end of 1977. Preparation of entries for the retrospective New Zealand National Bibliography is carried out by Ms P. Griffith in the Cataloguing Section of the Alexander Turnbull Library, with the Head of that Section, Miss K. S. Williams, as Assistant Editor, although the ultimate responsibility still rests with Mr Bagnall, despite his ‘retirement’ in 1973.

Retirement of Hon. Editor This issue of the Record represents the completion of ten years’ publication in the new series which I commenced in 1967. Editorial responsibility since 1974 has been shared with Mr J. E. Traue as Chief

Librarian. The putting to bed of the 21st number of this decennium is a convenient staging point to hand over to younger and more committed successors. The Committee of the Friends at its meeting on 29 September confirmed the appointment of Mr J. E. Traue as Editor and Ms Penny Griffith as Assistant Editor. I am sure that under their direction the place which the Record holds in the membership and beyond as a scholarly but not entirely desiccated interpreter of the collections, as an accessions record of some special materials and as a commemorative chronology of Library milestones will be enhanced.

Note on Contributors Dr M. E. Hoare, fls, is the third James Cook Research Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and a Visiting Fellow in Victoria University of Wellington, Department of History. He is working on the historiography of science in New Zealand with particular emphasis on the period 1880-1926 and is editing the ‘Journal’ of J. R. Forster on Cook’s Second Voyage (1772-75) for the Hakluyt Society. He was formerly Research Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and Department of History, Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University, Canberra. Heather M. Curnow was Art Librarian at the Alexander Turnbull Library from 1968 until 1970. She has since undertaken an extended study of the work of William Strutt from collections and sources in Australia and the United Kingdom. Dr L. H. Barber, m a, ph d, dip theol, is a Lecturer in the History Department at Waikato University.