EARLY HISTORY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 230, 27 August 1938, Page 13

EARLY HISTORY

RARE BOOKS SOLD. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Aug. 26. A 24-page pamphlet published in New Zealand in 1851 was bought to-day for £2 ss, this being a printed copy of a letter written by Henry Williams in reply to a statement by 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, and sold by auction in Wellington today. 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 Hocken 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 printed, for private circulation, had been in the Williams family for three generations. Many of them are to-day of great interest to a student of relationships between the pakeha and the Maori people. Rarer pamphlets, seldom seen on the open market, made substantial prices. The confidence which students of the Maori race , have in the wellknown authority, the late Mr Elsdon Best, is indicated by the fact that a collection of his works in seven volumes brought £ll Bs.