Fine Private Library Has 2600 New Zealand Books

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27912, 8 March 1956, Page 6

Fine Private Library Has 2600 New Zealand Books

Many hours delving into the “realms of gold” could be spent by a visitor to the private library of Mr A. H. Johnstone, of St. Martins, Christchurch. The “realms” in this case comprise 2600 New Zealand books and pamphlets—one of the largest private collections of New Zealand literature in the country, obtained over a period of 40 years..

It is not to be wondered that Mr Johnstone almost might weep when he sees the results of almost a lifetime’s hobby leave the bookshelves at his home. He intends to sell his collection, valued at more than £2OOO. and he has been busv listing them for sale over the last few weeks.

Containing some of the rarest of early New Zealand writings, especially on Canterbury, and kept up to date until recent years, when usually only Canterbury books were added, Mr Johnstone’s collection was begun when he joined a bookselling firm as a young man. He first began collecting travel and theatrical books, but he got rid of those and started on his New Zealand collection about 40 years ago. “In the last few years New Zealand books have become so numerous that I have had to concentrate on Canterbury,” he said. Most Purchases at Auctions Mr Johnstone, who is now head of the book department of his firm, ordered some of his books from overseas, but most of them have been bought at auction sales in Christchurch and in the North Island. He has also made exchanges with other private collectors, including the late Sir Joseph Kinsey, of Christchurch.

Asked whether he had read the 2609 books distributed on shelves in his lounge and small study, Mr Johnstone replied, “No. I have read those in which I have been particularly interested, but collectors always have plenty of books that they do not read. Of course, everyone would not agree with collecting for the sake of collecting.” However, Mr Johnstone began his hobby because he was a keen reader and, apart from the pleasure it has brought to him, it has also been of much use to others. Canterbury University College students used the books frequently for historical research at a time when many of them were not available from other sources. Collectors from many parts of New Zealand have paid visits to peruse them. Mr Johnstone said that now most of the books were also in the Turnbull and Hocken Libraries, but some of them would be in one and not in the other, and there might be a few that were not in either of these libraries. A catalogue he compiled about 20 years ago Mr Johnstone did not keep up to date, and the list he made in the last few weeks is just a rough one from the order of the books on the shelves. But he was able to produce without search some of the rarest and most interesting of them. Handwritten Inscriptions Some of the books take their interest from handwritten inscriptions as well as from content and age. One of the most notable is a volume of John Robert Godley’s “Letters and Speeches,” collected by J. E. FitzGerald and published by “The Press” in 1863. The inscription says it was presented by Fitz Gerald to the Rt.

Hon. W. E. Gladstone. Seeing it advertised in a London catalogue about 25 years ago, Mr Johnstone wrote for it, and obtained it for 12s 6d. The book was also signed by a great - grandson of John Robert Godley, Lord Kilbracken. when he visited Christchurch in 1950.

“Spring in the Canterbury Settlement,” by C. Warren Adams, published in 1853, is inscribed by the author “to my mother and father.” For that reason, Mr Johnstone said he could claim that it was the only copy of its kind in the world. “Geology of the Province of Canterbury and Westland,” published in 1879, was presented by the author “to his Excellency the Rt. Hon Augustus Loftus. G.K.8., Governor of New South Wales.”

Another book. “Incidents of the Maori War, 1860-61,” by Colonel James E. Alexander, was “presented with the greatest respect to Field-Marshal H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, K.G., Commander-in-Chief.” Mr Johnstone has two well-kept copies of the first book solely on New Zealand—“ Some account of New Zealand, particularly the Bay of Islands,” by John Savage, published in 1807. Two other slightly faded volumes give a description of “a voyage to New Zealand” and the “manners, customs and political economy of the natives,” by Nicholas, who travelled here with Samuel Marsden. “It has always puzzled me why a book like this should have been published in Hokitika,” said Mr Johnstone, pulling out a rare copy of Mrs Henry Wood’s “Henry Dunbar” with “People’s Edition” on the title page. The book was printed by Harnett and Company, Weld street, Hokitika, in 1867.

Racing Poem of 1896 A tiny booklet of a poem on the Great Northern Steeplechase of 1896 includes a name which has become one of the most prominent in Canterbury racing. Entitled “Levanter By a Nose,” the poem, by Frank M. Burtt, describes the race when Mr Jack Rae, the owner, trainer, and rider of Levanter, beat Mr Free Holmes on Liberator by a nose. “Both ‘first-flight artists’—Rae and Holmes; both game ’uns to the core,” the poem says. The collection includes records of the controversy between Sir George Grey and the Canterbury Association; early reports on the possibilities of communication between “the port and plains"; and three copies of the record of the trial of the Wakefields “for conspiracy and for the abduction of Miss Ellen Turner”—an official edition and two cheap small editions. An example of the improvements in the use of New Zealand flax for paper making is given by two little pamphlets, both entitled “Phormium Tenax, or New Zealand Flax.” Both give accounts of the plant and are printed on paper made from its leaves. The first one, published in 1836, has a coarse, brown-flecked paper, but the other, with an 1864 date, has finetextured white paper as good as most used for printing today. Twenty numbers of “Punch in Canterbury," of 1865. modelled on the English journal, comprise mainly barbed political comment on the affairs of the province. In 1866, the paper became “Punch in New Zealand,” but it survived for only a few issues. Looking at his collection with some pride, Mr Johnstone said that, in selling the books, he had been asked to break it up. but he would not think of doing so because of the value of the collection to New Zealand literature. Americans were interested in obtaining collections from New Zealand, but he would rather it stayed in the Dominion.