EARLY N.Z. BOOKS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22491, 27 August 1938, Page 11

EARLY N.Z. BOOKS

LIBRARY OF BISHOP

WILLIAMS

RARE COLLECTORS' ITEMS

SOLD

ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.)

WELLINGTON, August 26. A 24-page pamphlet published in New Zealand in 1851 was bought to-day for £2 ss. It was a printed copy of a letter writfen by the Rev. Henry Williams, in reply to a statement by the Rev. E. G. Marsh. This was only one of the many rare collectors' items included in the first portion of the library of the late Bishop Williams, of Hawke's Bay. which was sold *by auction in Wellington to-day. The sale showed the growing interest of collectors in early New Zealand books. In addition to a number of public libraries, the Turnbull Library, Wellington, and the Hockcen Library, Dunedin, were among the buyers, who came from all parts of New Zealand. There were also several Australian buyers, including the Mitchell library, Sydney. The collection included a large number of books and pamphlets dealing with New Zealand colonisation, the Maori wars, and early New Zealand religious history. Some of them,, printed for private circulation, had been in tae possession of the Williams family for three generations. Many of them are to-day of great interest to the student of the relationships between the pakeha and the Maori people. Tiie jarer pamphlets, which are seldom seen on the open market, made substantial prices The'confidence which students of tne Maori race have in the well-known authority, Elsden Best, was indicated when a collection of his works, in seven volumes, brought £ll Bs. E. Diffenbach's "Travels in New Zealand 1843 in two vloumes, rebound in half calf, sold for £4 15s. ' Alfred Domett's "Ranolf and Amohia," 1872, went for £1 Is, but the 1883 two-volume edition made £2 3s A Tornander's "The Polynesian Race. 1885 in three volumes, sold cheaply for £3 ss, a further two volumes making £2 ss. A fair copy of G. F. Angas s "Savage Life and Scenes," published in two volumes in 1847, sold for £4 Hugh Carleton's 1854 pamphlet, "A Page from the History of New Zealand," made £2, and a second copy £1 17s Probably the biggest bargain of the day was a copy of William Taylor's "A Leaf from the Natural History of New Zealand," published in Wellington in' 1848. The original covers were slightlv damaged and part of the title page was missing. This item made 275, but other copies in better condition have been sold for £4.