Cover Section

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 33, 1 January 2000, Cover Page

The Turnbull Library RECORD

Volume 33 ♦♦♦ 2000

ISSN 0110-1625

The Turnbull Library Record is a scholarly journal in the humanities published yearly by The Friends of the Turnbull Library. The Record publishes a wide range of material, with special emphasis on the societies of New Zealand, Australia, and the islands of the Pacific in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Other topics of relevance are early printed books, John Milton and his contemporararies, and fine printing. These are areas in which the Alexander Turnbull Library’s own collections and research interests are particularly strong.

Publications Board: Margaret Calder, Anthony Cross, Brian Opie, Philip Rainer, Rachel Underwood, Sheila Williams. Managing Editor: Penny Griffith

Contributions which have not been previously published are welcomed and, prior to acceptance, will be evaluated by independent referees. Prospective contributors should write for details of forthcoming issues and submission requirements to: Managing Editor, Turnbull Library Record, The Friends of the Turnbull Library, PO Box 12-186, Wellington, New Zealand.

Copyright in individual articles reverts to their author(s) on publication.

The Friends of the Turnbull Library is an Incorporated Society established in 1939 to support the work of the Alexander Turnbull Library. Further information about the Friends, including membership details, is on the inside back cover. The Record is distributed to all members of the Friends.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Friends of the Turnbull Library or of the Alexander Turnbull Library.

The Alexander Turnbull Library is a division of the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa.

Front cover: A cuneiform tablet (actual size approximately 45x36x11mm.) dating from between 2500 and 2100bc, the inscription of which concerns grain. It is one of three Sumerian tablets from this period, the oldest literary documents in the collections of the Turnbull Library. Mark Bland’s article (p.l 1) discusses the importance of particular items in the Library’s collections for the development of literacy, the circulation of knowledge, and responsibility towards civilisation and national library resources. ATL Picture ref: Curios-007-001 (detail).

Title page: Alexander Turnbull’s first bookplate, designed for him by English illustrator Walter Crane in 1891. ATL Picture ref: 811171/2.

© The Friends of the Turnbull Library 2000 Printed by Thames Publications, Wellington