A new publication which may interest members, from Dr. Donald Kerr, Special Collections Librarian at the University of Otago, that enhances our knowledge of the history of the book in New Zealand:

Hocken. Prince of Collectors, by Donald Kerr
Otago University Press http://www.otago.ac.nz/press
Jacketed hardback, 155 x 240 mm
424 pp & 40 pp photos
ISBN 978-1-877578-66-3, $60.00
IN-STORE: JUNE 2015

Dr Thomas Morland Hocken (1836–1910) arrived in Dunedin in 1862, aged 26. Throughout his busy life as a medical practitioner he amassed books, manuscripts, sketches, maps and photographs of early New Zealand. Much of his initial collecting focused on the early discovery narratives of James Cook; along with the writings of Rev. Samuel Marsden and his contemporaries; Edward Gibbon Wakefield and the New Zealand Company; and Maori, especially in the south. He gifted his collection to the University of Otago in 1910.

Hocken was a contemporary of New Zealand’s other two notable early book collectors, Sir George Grey and Alexander Turnbull. In this magnificent piece of research, a companion volume to his Amassing Treasures for All Times: Sir George Grey, colonial bookman and collector (2006), Donald Kerr examines Hocken’s collecting activities and his vital contribution to preserving the history of New Zealand’s early post-contact period.

Ordering information: Order all Otago books from Nationwide Book Distributors/ www.nationwidebooks.co.nz/ books@nationwidebooks.co.nz/ Ph: 03 312 1603/ Fax: 03 312 1604