N.Z. bird book up for auction

Press, 13 July 1984, Page 10

N.Z. bird book up for auction

London A first edition of “History of New Zealand Birds” by the New Zealand naturalist, Sir Walter Buller, is one of the prized items in Sotheby’s natural history sale next week. The book, which is described as having a high standard of colour plates, was published in 1871 and has an estimated price of £ 300 to £4OO ($635 to $850.) It is one of 25 copies which Sir Walter presented to the New Zealand Government and which were ac-

claimed highly. The author, a son of a Wesleyan missionary, was bom in the Bay of Islands in 1838, was educated at Wesley College, Auckland. When aged 25 he was made a resident magistrate and, during his visit to London, the New Zealand Government arranged for him to assist its agent-secretary as secretary. In 1871 the Government granted him the cost of his return fare to London, and leave of absence, on halfpay, from his duties as a

resident magistrate so that he might see his book through the press. While in London during the 1870 s he qualified for the Bar at the Inner Temple, and later set up a lucrative business in New Zealand, largely in Maori Land Court work. In 1884 he built himself a house with a pillared porch on The Terrace, Wellington, and seven years later bought the Papataitonga Lake estate, near Levin, which he made into a wildlife refuge.