Home > Exhibition labels: World of the Book

Exhibition labels: World of the Book

WoTB_-_ALL_Web_HTML_-_2025

World of the Book 2025
Celebrating 20 years

__

Books are mirrors of many worlds: worlds here and distant, past and present, real and imagined. Through text and image, they are it conduits of ideas, knowledge and stories. 

This exhibition showcases many of the RARE, beautiful and historically significant books held in this library on behalf of the Victorian community. It celebrates the unique place of books in our hearts and minds, taking you on a journey through the history of book production, design and illustration, from the ancient past to the present day.

__

From novel idea to crowd favourite — Celebrating 20 years of World of the Book

A lot happened in 2005. Lleyton Hewitt made it to the Australian Open finals. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown topped the bestseller list. The first video was uploaded to YouTube. And the humble book was given the starring role in State Library Victoria’s new exhibition.

Fast forward to 2025 and World of the Book has become the biggest, longest-running and most popular book exhibition in Australia. More than 4.5 million visitors from around the globe have been to see it and almost 5000 rare books have been featured – with 300 works to enjoy every year.

Celebrate 20 years with us and keep an eye out for 20 rare, sacred and iconic items from 2005 that are back on display, identified with this icon:

__

__

BOOKS AND IDEAS

The history of ideas is mirrored in the history of the book. Books have altered the course of history itself, disseminating ideas that have changed how we think about the world and ourselves. Across cultures and eras, books have played a highly symbolic and iconic role.

Once, it was thought that the world’s knowledge could be collected between the covers of a book. The information explosion of recent times makes it impossible to contain the world’s knowledge within one library, let alone in one book. Yet books continue to be a powerful means of informing and inspiring new generations.

__

The Age of the Manuscript

Before the Romans developed the codex (folded sheets sewn together, bound between boards) in the first century CE, texts were inscribed onto clay tablets and papyrus scrolls. The Romans began using vellum (prepared animal skin) as a writing surface, and their invention of the codex revolutionised the recording and accessing of information.

Until the 12th century, most Western books were hand-copied in the scriptoria (writing rooms) of monasteries, for use by those communities. The rise of universities in towns such as Paris and Bologna in the 13th century created wider demand for book ownership, and the commercial book industry was born.

The 14th and 15th centuries were the high point of manuscript book production in Western Europe. Personal prayer books,in particular, were often lavishly illustrated with miniatures (Latin: miniare, ‘to colour with red’) and gold-leaf illumination. They were prized as much for their beauty as for their spiritual purpose.

__

Anicius Manlius Severinus BOETHIUS

(c. 475–524 CE)

De institutione musica (The Principles of Music)

Northern Italy, 11th century

RARES 091 B63

This is the oldest book in Australia. Roman scholar and statesman Boethius composed this text in around 500 CE. It was the standard textbook on the theory of music throughout the Middle Ages and was still used in the 18th century. The work consists primarily of diagrams and explanations about the relationship of music to mathematics, reflecting the medieval conception of music as a mathematical discipline. This copy was written in Carolingian script, devised at the time of King Charlemagne (late 8th and early 9th centuries).

__

Antiphonary

Paris, c. 1350

RARESF 096.1 R66A

An antiphonary is a book used in the Christian religious ritual of the Divine Office (prayers recited at set times of the day). It contains the antiphons (musical chants) sung using the words of a psalm. This one was made in Paris for the royal Dominican convent, dedicated to St Louis, King of France, at Poissy. Poissy’s library contained illuminated manuscripts of the highest quality. Its collection was dispersed during the French Revolution. After years in private collections, this manuscript was acquired by State Library Victoria in 1947. Displayed here is the music for the feast of St Lawrence, patron saint of libraries.

__

Scribe’s knife c. 1400s

Germany or the Netherlands, carved boxwood

RARESEF 091 SCR16

This remarkable survivor is a scribe’s knife or scraper, used in the creation of handwritten manuscripts in the pre-print era. It was commonly used to hold parchment or vellum (animal skin prepared as a writing surface) in place and to perform corrections by scraping the top layer of the skin to remove unwanted markings or errors. The handle of this example is carved into the form of books, their tooled bindings and fore-edge clasps shown in loving detail.

__

These drawings show a scribe holding his quill and knife and him then using his knife to erase a mistake. They come from a German copy of the works of the Church Father Ambrose (Bamburg State Library, Msc.Patr.5, fol. 1v, details). The manuscript commences with an illustration depicting the stages of producing a book, the image known as the Bamberg Schreiberbild (scribe portrait).

__

Scriptores historiae Augustae (History of the Augustan Caesars)

Florence, copied by the scribe Neri di Filippo Rinuccini and illuminated by Mariano del Buono di Jacopo and workshop, 1479

RARESF 096.1 AU4

This manuscript is an example of the Renaissance revival of classical literature. The text consists of biographies of Roman emperors from Hadrian to Numerian (117–284 CE), first composed around 360 CE. This copy was owned by Lorenzo de’ Medici, then head of the great Florentine dynasty. Symbols of his ownership appear on this opening leaf: the border is a sprouting laurel tree (referring to his name and his fertility) and his French motto, Le Tens Revient (The Times Return), is written in the banderole wrapped around the laurel. The Medici coat of arms appears in the lower border.

__

Antiphonal (fragmentary)

Central or northern Italy, late 13th – early 14th century

RARESEF 096 R66L

Before the invention of ‘neumes’ (the representation of a single note), music in Europe was learned orally and chanted from memory. Initially, neumes were written above the relevant words at varying heights, showing only the general shape of a melody. By the time this antiphonal (choir book containing the music and chants of the Divine Office) was made, the system had evolved. Using a four-line stave with a clef marker, scribes could indicate the relative pitch of musical notes, as well as their rhythm and duration.

__

The Birth of Print

The end of one epoch is the beginning of another. An elite society gave way to a mass society.

lucien febvre

Chinese scholars pioneered printing from woodblocks around 200 CE and from moveable ceramic and metal type in the 11th century. German metalworker Johann Gutenberg (c. 1400–1486), who, like all Europeans of his age, knew nothing of these inventions, is considered the founder of European printing.

Within a decade of Gutenberg’s famous 42-line Bible, German printers operated around Europe, including in Rome, Venice and Paris. The earliest printed books reflected the black-letter style of German Gothic script. In the 1470s, Venetian printerssuch as Nicolas Jenson developed typefaces based on Italian humanist scripts (themselves based on Roman scripts), leading to the ‘roman’ typeface still used today.

Books printed before 1500 are known as incunabula, from the Latin for ‘cradle’, referring to printing’s infancy. Manuscript production continued in Europe into the 16th century, but its high cost ensured printing became the pre-eminent technology of the book.

__

Vincent of Beauvais

(c. 1190 – c. 1264)

Speculum doctrinale (Mirror of Doctrine)

Strasbourg, Adolf Rusch, c. 1472

RARESEF 093 C723R

French Dominican friar Vincent of Beauvais produced the most comprehensive and influential encyclopaedia of the medieval period, the Speculum maius (Great Mirror). It consisted of three sections, each of which ‘mirrored’ aspects of the world to the reader: Speculum naturale (science and natural history), Speculum doctrinale (philosophy, grammar, rhetoric, poetry, politics, medicine, mathematics and theology) and Speculum historiale (a complete history of the world up to Vincent’s day). Vincent died before completing his project, after two decades of working on it. An intended fourth section, Speculum morale (vices and virtues), was compiled by others around 1320.

__

Vincent of Beauvais

(c. 1190 – c. 1264)

Speculum historiale (Mirror of History), vol. 2

Strasbourg, Adolf Rusch, c. 1473

RARESEF 093 C723R (PLO)

These two volumes from Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum maius were printed in Strasbourg by Adolf Rusch, son-in-law of one of the town’s most eminent printers, Johannes Mentelin. They are examples of incunables, a term used to describe books printed in the experimental first 50 years of the technology’s use in Europe, up to the year 1501. ‘Incunable’ comes from the Latin word incunabula, which means ‘in swaddling clothes’ or ‘in the cradle’, referring to the infancy of printing.

__

A leaf from Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum historiale (Mirror of History)

Strasbourg, Johannes Mentelin, 4 December 1473

RARESEF 093 H11G (Plate 78)

A leaf from Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum naturale (Mirror of Nature)

Strasbourg, the printer of the Legenda aurea, c. 1481

RARESEF 093 H11G (Plate 94)

__

唐廷樞著 (TANG Tingshu)

(1832–1892)

英語集全 (Ying yu ji quan . . . , or, The Chinese and English Instructor)

Canton (Guangzhou), publisher unknown, Tongzhi yuan nian, [1862]

Donated by the Lau Gooey family, on behalf of the Wong Loy family, RARESEF 428.24951 T61Y (Copy 2)

This Chinese to English phrasebook was published in many variant states in 1862. This set, in wooden boards, was owned by William Wong Loy. Its title label refers to William’s father, Wong Ying Loy, who owned the Yin Bun Low eatery on Little Bourke Street. The handwritten label reads: ‘To New Gold Mountain, Melbourne c/o Yin Bun Low. For: Mr. Lau Mun from Jing Gwun district’. Many people from China immigrated to Victoria during the mid-19th century, seeking their fortune on the goldfields or through the many commercial opportunities of a booming Melbourne.

__

唐廷樞著 (TANG Tingshu)

(1832–1892)

英語集全 (Ying yu ji quan . . . , or, The Chinese and English Instructor)

Canton (Guangzhou), publisher unknown, Tongzhi yuan nian [1862]

Donated by the Lau Gooey family, on behalf of the Wong Loy family, RARESEF 428.24951 T61Y (Copy 2)

This phrasebook’s author was a Guangdong-born businessman and interpreter. He served as one of the leading China-based agents for the still-extant Jardine Matheson Company.

__

唐廷樞著 (TANG Tingshu)

(1832–1892)

英語集全 (Ying yu ji quan . . . , or, The Chinese and English Instructor)

Canton (Guangzhou), publisher unknown, Tongzhi yuan nian, [1862]

Donated by the Lau Gooey family, on behalf of the Wong Loy family, RARESEF 428.24951 T61Y (Copy 2)

As the preface states, the six-volume work was:

written by the author, a native of Canton province, in the Canton dialect, chiefly to suit the Canton people who have transactions, or are connected, with foreigners. The words are first given in Chinese; then, the pronunciation of such words, written in English; then, the meaning of those words in the English language; and lastly the pronunciation of the English words written in Chinese, so that the book is not only useful for Chinese to learn English, but at the same time will enable foreigners to learn Chinese.

__

唐廷樞著 (TANG Tingshu)

(1832–1892)

英語集全 (Ying yu ji quan . . . , or, The Chinese and English Instructor)

Canton (Guangzhou), publisher unknown, Tongzhi yuan nian, [1862]

Donated by the Lau Gooey family, on behalf of the Wong Loy family, RARESEF 428.24951 T61Y (Copy 2)

__

S.T. GILL

(1818–1880)

John Alloo’s Chinese Restaurant, Main Road Ballaarat

From The Diggers and Diggings of Victoria as They Are in 1855

Melbourne, James J. Blundell & Co., 1855

H94.83/1

__

Cuneiform tablet c. 2050 BCE

Southern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq)

RARES 099 C89

The earliest examples of cuneiform script date to c. 3400 BCE and record economic transactions. This clay tablet, written in Sumerian language in cuneiform script, records taxes paid in sheep and goats in the tenth month of the 46th year of Shulgi, second king of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Cuneiform was also used to record the oldest surviving epic poem in the word, The Epic of Gilgamesh, written c. 2100–1200 BCE in Sumerian language.

__

Cuneiform was one of the world’s first scripts, developed by the ancient culture of Sumer. It was written on clay tablets using a wedged stick. The tablets were then sun-dried or fired in kilns. Since the 18th century, when successful efforts were made to decipher this lost system, scholars have called it cuneiform, from the Latin word cunea, meaning ‘wedge’.

Cuneiform began as a pictographic script, using pictures to denote a word or phrase. It evolved to use a mixture of phonetic and ideographic glyphs that could denote both sounds and words or phrases. Several significant ancient Middle Eastern cultures used adapted forms of cuneiform script to write in their own languages, including the Akkadians and the Assyrians.

State Library Victoria thanks Dr George Heath-Whyte, Tyndale House, for his expert advice regarding the graphic above this case.

__

Religions of the Book

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

John 1:1

Many religions are founded on books. The oldest, Hinduism, draws on the Vedas, texts dating back to 1400–1200 BCE. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are often referred to as the ‘religions of the book’, as each has a religious text at its centre: the Torah, the Bible and the Qur’an, respectively. The word Bible derives from biblia, the Greek word for ‘books’. Torah is translated as ‘teaching’ or ‘word’, while Qur’an means ‘to read’ or ‘to recite’.

The rise of new religions has coincided with key moments in the history of the book, such as the development of the codex around the time of the birth of Christianity. Its form assisted the early Church to distinguish itself from Judaism, which used the scroll form for its sacred texts.

__

William BILLYNG

(Active c. 1400–1430)

The Five Wounds of Christ: A Poem: From an Ancient Parchment Roll

Manchester, printed by R. and W. Dean, 1814

RARESEF 821.1 B497F (1814)

This unusual book is a reproduction of a medieval English manuscript parchment roll containing an illuminated devotional poem about the five wounds of Christ; that is, the wounds of the crucifixion. Printed on linen-fibre paper intended to resemble silk, the text is a pseudo-medieval blackletter typeface, while the illuminations have been hand drawn on paper and glued in. The original medieval roll is now lost, making this idiosyncratic reproduction an important preservation of English medieval wound devotion.

__

Gebeth zu der mit einem Dorn durchstochenen heil[ige] zunge Jesu Christi (Prayer to the Holy Tongue of Jesus Christ Pierced with a Thorn)

Germany, publisher unknown, late 18th century

RAREP 096 G2934

This small pamphlet features a woodcut of Christ’s thorn-pierced tongue. This is not described in any of the canonical Gospels, which offer no details beyond that Jesus was mocked and beaten. There is, however, a strong tradition in German-speaking Europe that part of Christ’s flagellation before crucifixion included the piercing of his tongue with a thorn from the crown of thorns. The prayer printed in this pamphlet encourages readers to ask for forgiveness for using their tongues to sin, and to look to Mary (Christ’s mother) for support when they are in need.

__

Ecce homo (Behold the Man)

Europe, miniature painted on vellum, c. 1750

RAREP 091 B7581 (item 1)

This small piece of vellum features a painting of the subject known as the Ecce homo, Latin for ‘Behold the man’. It shows Jesus Christ in the middle of his flagellation – the torture he underwent before being crucified by the Romans around 33 CE. As recounted in three of the canonical Gospels in the Christian Bible (John 19:1, Mark 15:15 and Matthew 27:26), Christ was mocked and beaten by Roman soldiers and made to wear a crown of thorns. This small devotional image was made to be held in the hand and shows evidence of repeated devotional kissing and touching.

__

Missale insignis ecclesie Trajectensis (Missal for Use in Utrecht)

Paris, Johannes Higman and Wolfgang Hopyl, 1497

RARESF 093 C974H

An important aspect of medieval Western European Christian spirituality was its devotion to Jesus Christ’s human suffering during the crucifixion. Texts and images were created to help Christians meditate on and identify with this suffering, and thereby feel closer to God. This woodcut print depicts ‘the Mass of St Gregory’. Pope Gregory I (c. 540–604 CE) was believed to have experienced a vision of the resurrected Christ on the altar while saying Mass. The person who hand-coloured this print has added blood dripping from Jesus’ wounds into the chalice, a reference to the belief that the bread and wine literally become body and blood of Jesus, giving eternal life to the faithful.

__

A leaf from Leven Christi (Life of Christ)

Zwolle, Netherlands, Petrus de Os, 1495

RARESEF 093 Sch7

__

Miniature Sefer Torah

Manuscript on parchment, Poland, 1820

Loan from the Jewish Museum of Australia, 206.3

The Torah contains five sacred texts of Judaism. As God’s covenant with the Jewish people, it is the basis for Jewish religious, political and social life. When used for public reading in the synagogue, the Torah is always handwritten on parchment made from the skin of a ritually killed animal. This example was made in Poland. The parchment scroll is supported by mahogany rollers with ivory handles, a purple mantle and a cloth binder.

__

Megillah Esther (The Scroll of Esther)

Manuscript on vellum, early 20th century

Loan from the Jewish Museum of Australia, 2544

The Scroll of Esther contains a near-contemporary account of the events celebrated during the Jewish festival of Purim, which may have occurred in 483–82 BCE. Queen Esther, the wife of Persian King Ahasuerus (understood by scholars to be Xerxes I), and her cousin Mordechai foil a plot by the viceroy Haman to kill all Persian Jews. Esther achieves this by revealing her own Jewish identity to the king and petitioning successfully for his mercy. The Megillah Esther is one of the Megillot (Five Scrolls) of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). It is read aloud annually at Purim celebrations.

__

Kabbalah on the laws of the transmutation of letters and words of the Hebrew alphabet and its combinations

Manuscript, before 1864

David Hailperin Collection, RARES 091 H35 (Vol. E)

Kabbalah (meaning ‘received’ or ‘tradition’) is a set of esoteric teachings within the Jewish mystical tradition. It seeks to define the relationship between the infinite (divine) and the finite (mortal), and thus reveal the meaning and purpose of life. As a school of thought, kabbalah emerged in medieval France and Spain, drawing on older mystical Jewish traditions; its practitioners believe it pre-dates all world religions. Like all rabbinical literature, Jewish mysticism was an oral tradition for many centuries before it was written down. The date of this manuscript is uncertain. It probably post-dates the dawn of printing in the mid-15th century.

__

Solomon ben ABRAHAM ADRET

(1235–1310)

Sefer Toldot adam . . . (Book of Generations of Adam . . . )

Livorno, Defus Yedidyah ben Yitsḥak., 1657

David Hailperin Collection, RARESF 296 AD82R (2)

David Hailperin assembled a remarkable collection of around 160 volumes during his worldwide travels, which he brought to Melbourne in 1855. An eccentric figure, he divided opinion in Victoria’s Jewish community, and he struggled financially. Not long before his death, he deposited his books with a pawnbroker to secure a loan of £10. The Reverand Isaac Pulver purchased them, and in 1864 he sold the collection to this library. This is one item in a collection comprising codes, responses and commentaries on Jewish religious law, and works on kabbalah and mysticism.

__

Yonah ASHKENAZI

(Active 1400s)

Sefer ʼIsur v.e-heter . . . (Codification of Ritual Law . . . )

Ferrara, Italy, Be-vet Avraham ibn Oski, 1555

David Hailperin Collection, RARES 296 J69

Dr David Hailperin (1814–60) was born in Bucharest, Romania, and appears to have served as a rabbi there for several years before living in Türkiye, where he obtained his medical qualification. Moving to England in the 1840s, he worked as both a merchant and a clairvoyant who claimed magical powers, reflecting his lifelong fascination with esoteric mysticism. Hailperin arrived in Australia in 1855 and practised as a physician in Melbourne and in Bendigo, where he died from pneumonia. He is buried in the Jewish section of Bendigo Cemetery.

__

Titus Flavius JOSEPHUS

(37–100 CE)

A leaf from Antiquitatum Iudaicarum libri XX (The Jewish Wars)

Paris, [Jean Petit] Apud Ambrosiium Girault, 1535

RARESEF Sticht Coll. (France) 425(4)

__

Qur’an

Manuscript, incomplete text, place and date of creation unknown

Michael Abbott Collection

This Qur’an is part of the internationally significant Michael Abbott Collection of South-East Asian manuscripts, which was donated to State Library Victoria in 2012. Comprising 50 volumes (the majority from Indonesia), the collection includes Qur’ans, commentaries, prayers, stories of prophets and other Islamic texts. They are written in a range of languages and scripts, including Arabic, Javanese and Malay. This beautiful illumination marks the Surah al-Kahf (The Cave), in chapter 18 of the Qur’an.

__

Qur’an

Arabic manuscript, possibly from East or West Africa, c. mid-19th century

RARESEF 297.8 AR

‘Read in the name of thy Lord . . . ’ The first words of the Qur’an symbolise the central role of the book in Islam. Muslims regard the Qur’an as the sacred word of God (Allah), dictated to the Prophet Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel in the 7th century. Calligraphic art venerated the sacred text and, as a result, printed Qur’ans did not appear until the 18th century. This 19th-century manuscript copy was once housed in a portable leather satchel.

__

Four leaves from a Qur’an

Manuscript, place of creation unknown, c. 1800

RARES 297.8 ARAB

__

Early European Women Printers

Women played an important role as the technology of printing using moveable type spread across Europe from the mid-15th century onwards. Evidence of this is sometimes hidden behind their husbands’ names. As co-business owners with their husbands in major printing centres such as Paris, London and Oxford, some women inherited printing houses on the death of a spouse, and continued to publish books, including under their own names.

While perhaps surprising to modern audiences, this was a continuation of normal practice from the age of commercial manuscript book production. Then, women worked as scribes, illuminators and workshop owners, both with their husbands and after their husbands’ deaths.

This display celebrates four women printers from the 16th and 17th centuries: Yolande Bonhomme, Charlotte Guillard, Elizabeth Purslowe and Joanna Brome.

__

Four leaves from Heures a l’usaige de Paris (A book of hours, use of Paris)

Paris, Thielman Kerver [i.e., Yolande Bonhomme], 19 June 1525

RARESEF Sticht Coll. (France) 396a

Yolande Bonhomme (c. 1490–1557) was deeply immersed in the Parisian print industry from birth. The daughter of the printer Pasquier Bonhomme, one of only four appointed booksellers of the University of Paris, she worked in her father’s printing business in various capacities. Yolande then married Paris-based German printer Thielman Kerver and, with him, ran a successful printing house catering to both religious and secular clients. After Kerver’s death in 1522, Yolande continued to publish books, including the book of hours from which these leaves originate.

__

Pope Gregory IX

(Died 1241)

Decretals (Papal decrees on church law)

Paris, Yolande Bonhomme, 1547

RARESEF Sticht Coll. (France) 420(7)

Between her husband’s death in 1522 and her own death in 1557, Yolande published between 120 and 200 publications, according to scholarly estimates. It is difficult to determine the exact number, as her early publications bore her husband’s name rather than her own. The confidence with which she began to publish under her maiden name (while still using the printing mark of the unicorn that she had shared with her husband) is testament to the success and significance of her printing house. In 1526, she became the first woman to publish the Bible, just one of her many professional achievements.

__

The printer’s device used by the heirs of Charlotte Guillard, widow of Claude Chevallon

Paris, the heirs of Charlotte Guillard, widow of Claude Chevallon, 1548

RARESEF Sticht Coll. (France) 407(4)

Charlotte Guillard (late 1480s–1557) was a contemporary of Yolande Bonhomme in the Parisian printing industry, though unlike Yolande, her connection to printing only began with marriage. In around 1507, Charlotte married the Paris-based, Strasbourg-born printer Berthold Remboldt, and together they forged a successful printing business specialising in legal and theological texts. After his death, around 1518, Charlotte continued running the business alone. In 1520, she married fellow theological printer and bookseller Claude Chevallon. After his death, in 1537, she continued running her printing business alone, managing five or six printing presses and up to 30 employees, producing around 200 editions before her death.

__

Justinian I

(c. 483–565)

Digestorum, seu, Pandectarum iuris ciuilis libri quinquaginta . . . (Digests of, or Compendium of Civil Law in Five Books . . . )

Paris, Charlotte Guillard, widow of Claude Chevallon . . . , 1548

RARESEF Sticht Coll. (France) 407(4)

Justinian I

(c. 483–565)

Quinquaginta librorum Digestorum, siue, Pandectarum iuris Caesarei tomus primus . . . (Fifty Books of the Digests of, or Compendium of the Laws of the Caesars, volume one . . . )

Paris, Charlotte Guillard, 1540

RARESEF Sticht Coll. (France) 407(4)

__

Peter HELYN

(1600–1662)

The History of the Sabbath: In Two Bookes

London, printed for Henry Seile, and are to be sold at the Signe of the Tygers-head in Saint Pauls Church-yard, 1624

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 143/19

Frustratingly little is known about the life of Elizabeth Purslowe outside her professional work in the printing industry. With her husband George Purslowe (active 1602–32), she ran a successful printing business in London during the reigns of James VI/I and his son Charles I, including collaborative productions with people such as Henry Seile/Seyle.

__

John DONNE

(1572–1631)

Iuuenilia or Certaine Paradoxes and Problemes

London, printed by E[lizabeth] P[urslowe] for Henry Seyle, and are to be sold at the signe of the Tygers head, in St Pauls Church-yard, 1633

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 321/5

In the 14 years between her husband’s death in 1632 and her own death in 1646, Elizabeth managed a business that printed around 164 editions, using both her initials and her full name in the statements on title pages. She also continued to collaborate with other printers, including as part of a syndicate known as Eliot’s Court Press, with fellow London widow printer Anne Griffin. This posthumously published first edition of John Donne’s Juvenalia (material written in his youth) continued Elizabeth’s association with Henry Seile/Seyle.

__

The Secretary of the Scots Army, His Relation to the Commissioners Concerning the King . . .

London, Elizabeth Purslowe, 11 May 1646

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 514/16

Elizabeth Purslowe and other women printers active during the 1640s were part of an extraordinary boom of printing in Britain. It was fuelled by the turmoil of the English Civil Wars, as well as the need for official publications and the public appetite for news. In this era, news sheets (the precursor to newspapers) and pamphlets, such as the one shown here, were the social media posts of their day, quickly conveying significant information to a mass audience. Elizabeth died in the year this pamphlet was printed, so did not live to see the momentous execution of King Charles I in 1649.

__

The Observator, no. 207

London, Joanna Brome, Munday September 18, 1682

RARESF 052 L56

Joanna Brome and her husband, Henry Brome, were London printers during the reign of Charles II, who had been restored to the throne in 1660 after Britain’s 11-year republican government. They primarily printed the works of the royalist pamphleteer Roger L’Estrange, who lived above their print shop, including his journal The Observator. Joanna continued the printing business after her husband’s death, around 1681, and in the face of malicious insinuations of an affair between her and L’Estrange; business and politics made a heady and often dangerous mix for printers in this era. Henry and Joanna’s son Charles inherited the business on her death, in 1684.

__

Thomas KEN

(1637–1711)

A Sermon Preached at the Funeral of the Right Honourable the Lady Margaret Mainard . . .

London, printed by M. Flesher, for Joanna Brome, at the sign of the Gun in St Paul’s Church-yard; and William Clarke bookseller in Winchester, 1682

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 2019/10

Edward PELLING

(Died 1718)

A Sermon Preached on the Anniversary of that Most Execrable Murder of K[ing] Charles the First Royal Martyr

London, printed for J. Williams at the Crown in St Paul’s Church-Yard, and Joanna Brome at the Gun at the west-end of St Pauls, 1682

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 835/15

__

The Prince and His Poodle, from the John Emmerson Collection

In a century full of larger-than-life characters, Prince Rupert of the Rhine still stands out as an especially charismatic and complex figure. The son of Charles I’s sister, Elizabeth Stuart, and Frederick V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire and briefly King of Bohemia, Rupert was a dashing figure on the battlefields of the English Civil Wars, fighting for his royal uncle.

He was also a central figure in a strange, humorous and ultimately tragic war of words that played out through pamphlets between royalist and parliamentarian forces, all about his dog, Boy. A hunting poodle, Boy always rode into battle with his master and became synonymous with his romantic, victorious bravado. That is, until the battle of Marston Moor on 2 July 1644 . . .

Use the QR code to dive into this and other stories in Beyond the Book: A Digital Journey through the John Emmerson Collection.

__

In 2015, State Library Victoria received one of the most generous gifts in its history: the John Emmerson Collection.

Born in Melbourne in 1938, John Emmerson completed a PhD in nuclear physics at Oxford University in 1964. It was in Oxford that he began collecting 17th-century English printed works. Returning to Melbourne in 1971, he studied law and became a leading intellectual-property lawyer. Over the next 40 years, Emmerson amassed 5000 rare titles, including early newspapers and political pamphlets; rare literary editions of Milton, Defoe, Dryden and others; and works relating to Charles I. Emmerson died in August 2014.

__

Historical Memoires of the Life and Death of that Wise and Valiant Prince, Rupert . . .

London, printed for Tho[mas] Malthus, at the sign of the Sun in the Poultry, 1683

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 116/18

Prince Rupert was a native of Bohemia, where Charles I’s sister Elizabeth had married Frederick, briefly the King of Bohemia. He arrived in England to support his uncle in 1642, the year that the bitter clashes between the monarch and his parliament broke into the prolonged conflict of the English Civil Wars. A dashing, romantic figure with the long, flowing locks of a cavalier, Rupert quickly won several key battles for Charles, attracting admiration from the Royalists and the ire of parliamentarian pamphleteers in London.

__

Marcus Tullius CICERO

(106 BCE – 43 BCE)

De officiis (On Duties), book 3

Amsterdam, Henrici Laurentii, 1623

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 115/4

Like all high-born men of his age, Prince Rupert was educated in the classical thought of Greece and Rome. This is his signed copy of one of last works by Roman statesman Cicero, his De officiis, which explores how to live a moral life. Book three deals with the conflict between what is right and what is expedient, an issue of profound importance to a military royal such as Rupert. When faced with open warfare against his parliament, Charles I called on the military prowess of his nephew Rupert, the soldierly son of his sister, Elizabeth. The 23-year-old arrived in England from Germany in 1642.

__

James STUART (James II, as Duke of York)

(1633–1701)

Autograph letter to Prince Rupert, Count Palatine

Manuscript, 22 July [1673]

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 837/5

Unlike his uncle, Rupert would survive the wars. He went on to play a leading role in establishing the trade of enslaved people and precious metals in the Caribbean and in Africa. Charles II succeeded to his father’s throne in 1660 (the Restoration). On his death, in 1685, his younger – and Catholic – brother James became king, albeit briefly; in 1688, he was deposed in the Glorious Revolution, replaced by his daughter Mary II and her Protestant Dutch husband, William of Orange. In this letter to Rupert, written before James was king, he shares court news with his cousin.

__

James STUART (James VI/I)

(1566–1625)

By the King. A Proclamation Concerning the Adiournement of the Parliament

London, by Bonham Norton, and Iohn Bill, printers to the Kings most excellent Maiestie, 1621

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 837/1 No. 1

Under Queen Elizabeth I, the British parliament was a branch of royal government and was not primarily a place of debate about political ideas and actions. A central tenet of her successor James’ published thought was the divine right of kings: no human could override the authority vested in monarchs by God. James (the sixth king of Scotland of that name, and first of England and Ireland) forbade parliament from convening several times through his reign, including in 1621.

__

Richard COLLINGS, editor

Mercurius civicus: Londons Intelligencer, no. 42

London, John Wright and Thomas Bates, 17–14 March 1643

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 125/1

Regarded as the first major urban newspaper, Mercurius civicus (named for the Roman messenger god, Mercury) was sold weekly for one penny during the English Civil Wars (1642–51). Each issue was headed by woodcut portraits of key figures, in this case the dashing Prince Rupert. His long hair was characteristic of the courtly elegance of the Royalists, inspiring their enemies to call them ‘cavaliers’ (from the Spanish caballeros, knight); it was a pejorative reference to the Catholic Spanish, who were then fighting the Protestant Dutch (1566–1648). The Royalists happily adopted the nickname, unlike the Puritan parliamentarian ‘Roundheads’, so-called for their closely cropped hairstyle.

__

The Parliament’s Unspotted-bitch . . .

London, printed for R. Jackson, [March] 1643

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 2015/36

Prince Rupert’s dog, Boy, captured England’s imagination so strongly that the Parliamentarians began to feel a need for their own canine mascot. In this pamphlet, responding to Rupert’s variously published defences of Boy (and his pet monkey), the author has invented an ‘unspotted’ (that is, morally pure) dog for the Puritan cause. The pamphlet is written from the perspective of this dog, who roundly condemns Boy and refutes the notion of his diabolic power, concluding that she regards Prince Rupert’s dog as ‘no more than . . . a grumbling Cur’.

__

Observations upon Prince Rupert’s White Dog called Boy . . .

London, [January/early February] 1643

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 515/27

Parliamentarian pamphlets were quickly produced to accuse Rupert of barbarity towards women and children, and of losing battles that he had won. Rupert hit back with his own pamphlets, and as the war of words progressed through 1642, even Rupert’s beloved pet poodle was drawn into the fray. As some Parliamentarians muttered darkly about Rupert’s apparently supernatural skill on the battlefield, this royalist pamphlet parodied the anti-Rupert hysteria. With tongue firmly in cheek, the author, ‘T.B.’, accused Boy of being Rupert’s ‘familiar’ (the animal assistant of a witch), and the white poodle is transformed into a lion for the title page.

__

A Dialogue, or, Rather a Parley Betweene Prince Ruperts Dogge Whose Name Is Puddle and Tobies Dog Whose Name Is Pepper

London, I. Smith, [February] 1643

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 515/28

The war of words about Rupert’s dog, Boy, reached a comic high point in this royalist pamphlet about Boy and ‘Tobies dog’. The latter is a reference to the biblical Book of Tobit and the Puritan spirituality of the Parliamentarians. As suggested by the title page’s illustration, the dogs trade insults in the text, playing out the political and social differences between the opposing forces. Finally, Pepper (the ‘Roundhead curr’) is won over by Boy’s forceful personality. He decides to join the Royalists and dons a long-haired wig to complete his transformation:
For Tobies Dog doth think it better,
To change himselfe to a Cavalier Pepper.

__

Ruperts Sumpter, and Private Cabinet Rifled, and a Discovery of a Pack of His Jewels . . .

London, J. Coe, [July] 1644

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 513/89

As the Civil Wars raged, Rupert led the royalist forces to many famous victories. In the summer of 1644, he confidently staged a decisive confrontation. At the Battle of Marston Moor (near York) on 2 July, Rupert’s army was destroyed by the Parliamentarians and their Scottish allies, who killed thousands. One of the victims was Boy, Rupert’s famous dog. This parliamentarian pamphlet shows the prince hiding in the bean field while his enemy rifles through his possessions and his beloved pet lies dead. The white poodle has been depicted as a black dog, perhaps to emphasise his death.

__

__

BOOKS AND IMAGINATION

Books hold the world’s stories, from the earliest known myths and legends to postmodern fictions. They are also keys that unlock inner worlds. The greatest authors and texts act as literary milestones, signposts marking the collective journeys of the imagination.

Imagination begins in childhood. Our earliest experience of reading allows us to travel to new worlds, to inhabit the voices and lives of characters. As adults, we never lose this sense of discovery, this capacity to journey to other places and times through books. At a fundamental level, books allow us to imagine ourselves as other than who we are.

__

The Iliad and the Odyssey

Little is known of ancient Greek poet Homer, who lived in the 8th or 9th century BCE. Believed to have been blind, he is regarded as the author of both the Iliad and the Odyssey. These great epic poems, drawn from earlier oral traditions, provided the basis for education in ancient Greece and continue to occupy a central place in the canon of European literature.

The Iliad is set during the final year of the Trojan War between the Achaeans (Greeks) and the Trojans, which began when Paris, a prince of Troy, kidnapped Helen, wife of the Greek king Agamemnon. The Greeks ultimately triumph and Troy is destroyed. The Odyssey tells of the adventures of Odysseus (anglicised as Ulysses) as he journeys home after the Trojan War to his faithful wife Penelope, who has waited years for his return.

This display celebrates the long history of women around the world as translators and adaptors of these ancient poems, from the 18th century to the present.

__

HOMER, author

(c. 750 – 650 BCE)

Anne Le Fèvre DACIER, translator

(1647–1720)

L’Iliade d’Homere (Homer’s Iliad)

A Paris, Chez Rigaud, Directeur de l’Impimerie Royale, ruë del la Harpe, [1711]

Acquired with the generous support of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, RARES 883.1 D11I

The 1711 publication of Homer’s Iliad in three volumes is viewed as Dacier’s crowning achievement as a translator. It was erroneously cited as being first published in 1699, but research by the Folger Collective on Early Women Critics has confirmed the first edition of Dacier’s translation was in fact printed in 1711. 

__

HOMER, author

(c. 750 – 650 BCE)

Anne Le Fèvre DACIER, translator

(1647–1720)

L’Odysée d’Homère (Homer’s Odyssey), vol. 1

A Paris, Aux dêpens de Rigaud Directeur de l’Imprimerie Royale, [1716]

Acquired with the generous support of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust,
RARES 883.1 D11O

As the first woman to translate Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Madame Dacier established herself as a distinguished classicist and translator. Her father, Tanneguy Le Fèvre, was a professor of classical languages at the Academy of Saumur, and he educated his daughter in Greek and Latin from an early age. Dacier’s editions of Homer were the authoritative French translations until the 20th century. Alexander Pope published his translations between 1715 and 1726, citing the influence of Dacier’s translation on his work.

__

HOMER, author

(c. 750 – 650 BCE)

Homeri Odyssea (Homer’s Odyssey)

Argentorati, Excudebat Theodosius Rihelius, [after 1572]

Bequeathed by Patrick Singleton, 2021, RARES 883.1 OR (15??)

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey have been a staple of study for more than two millennia, spanning Greek oral tradition through to the Roman Empire, Renaissance period and modern academia. A largely male cohort read the classics from the literary canon from the age of 14. The copy on display includes the study notes, annotations and ownership marks of Caroli Turner (Charles Turner), an alumnus of Rugby School, Warwickshire, in the early 19th century. Inscriptions like these were commonplace in schoolbooks, reflecting how engaged a student was with the work.

__

Christa WOLF, author

(1929–2011)

Jan VAN HEURCK, translator

(Active 1900s)

Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays

New York, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, [1984]

S 838.914 W83KH

Female authors of the 20th century such as Christa Wolf have engaged with Homer’s work with interest and rigour. Maligned female characters such as Wolf’s Cassandra come to life through unique narratives, humanising women in a way that had never been attempted before. Wolf, a citizen of East Germany in the 1980s, lived under authoritarian rule. Academics have drawn parallels between Wolf’s experience of marginalisation, censorship and oppression and Cassandra’s life in the vassal state of Troy.

__

HOMER, author

(c. 750 – 650 BCE)

Emily WILSON, translator

(Born 1971)

The Odyssey

New York, W.W. Norton & Company, [2018]

RARES 883.01 H7529OW

Men have a long history of translating Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey into English. In 2018, Emily Wilson became the first woman to publish an English translation of the Odyssey. Written in iambic pentameter verse (rhythmic pattern), Wilson’s translation exposes the uncomfortable truth of misogyny in Homer’s works and traditional study of literary classics. She draws attention to the necessity of representation in the field of literary translation.

__

Madeline MILLER

(Born 1978)

Circe

London, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection

Continuing the tradition of modern authors such as Christa Wolf, Madeline Miller’s Circe explores Greek antiquity through the lens of a female protagonist. Written in first-person narrative, Miller’s award-winning mythic fantasy novel delves into the complex world of being a goddess in a time of gods.

__

Madeline MILLER

(Born 1978)

Circe

New York, Little Brown & Co, 2018

RARES 813.6 M6161C

__

Madeline MILLER

(Born 1978)

The Song of Achilles

London, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection

__

Jane Werner WATSON, author

(1915–2004)

Alice PROVENSEN, illustrator

(1918–2018)

Martin PROVENSEN, illustrator

(1916–1987)

The Iliad and the Odyssey

New York, Golden Press, 1964

Rare Books Collection

__

Margaret ATWOOD

(Born 1939)

Penelopiad

Edinburgh, Canongate, 2005

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection, RAREGAA 813 AT9P (UK)

Novelist, poet, essayist and activist Margaret Atwood is considered one of Canada’s greatest writers. Penelopiad is Atwood’s contribution to the Canongate Myth Series of novellas exploring modern interpretations of mythology. Told in retrospect from the afterlife, Penelope narrates a firsthand account of her life and marriage to Odysseus.

__

Margaret CAVENDISH

(c. 1624–1674)

The Description of a New World, called The Blazing World

London, Anne Maxwell, 1668

Acquired with the generous support of Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Helen Sykes, Rare Books Collection

Described as the first example of proto-science fiction, The Blazing-World is Margaret Cavendish’s rarest printed work. Wife of William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, Margaret was maid of honour for Queen Henrietta Maria. A writer, philosopher and self-publisher, she was an aristocratic celebrity known more for her eccentricities than her writing. Written in response to Robert Hooke’s 1665 Micrographia, The Blazing-World blends fantasy, science, philosophy, theology and utopianism in a single play. The work follows the adventures of an unnamed woman in a utopia of anthropomorphic beings.

__

Nellie SHAW

(1929–2018)

Whiteway: A Colony on the Cotswolds

London, C.W. Daniel Company, 1935

Acquisition supported by the Women Writers Fund, RARES 335.942 SH27W

Nellie Shaw’s Whiteway is a blend of fiction and non-fiction. The utopian socialist colony of Whiteway was established in 1898 and still exists, albeit with a less militant community. Described as ‘an anarchist-feminist seamstress from Penge’, Shaw was one of the founding members of this colony, located in England’s Cotswolds region.

__

Laura Dayton FESSENDEN

(1852–1924)

‘2002’: Childlife One Hundred Years from Now

London & Chicago, Jamieson-Higgins Co., c. 1902

Acquired with the generous support of the Women Writers Fund, RARES 813.52 F4242

An early example of children’s speculative fiction, ‘2002’ is a prophetic tale of life 100 years on. In Laura Fessenden’s future, the world is a social utopia in which its vegetarian population enjoy new technology, renewable energy and a female president.

__

Edith RICHARDSON

(1867–1935)

Neutopia: The New Good Place & its Effect on 5 Men

London, Simpkin, Marshall Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1925

Acquired with the generous support of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, Rare Books Collection

Edith Richardson was a British writer and illustrator of children’s books, and she published under a variety of pseudonyms. Her 1925 utopian and scientific romance Neutopia depicts the discovery of a utopian society that emphasises free health, education and vegetarianism. The women of this lost world are dedicated eugenicists, who evolve a unique form of empathetic telepathy.

__

Sir Julius VOGEL

(1835–1899)

Anno Domini 2000, or, Woman’s Destiny

London, Hutchinson, 1889

MC NZ823.1 V86A

Published four years before New Zealand women won the right to vote, Anno Domini 2000 was the only work of fiction written by the liberal-minded politician Sir Julius Vogel. The work is set in a world where women have achieved social equality and political suffrage. A staunch defender of women’s rights and reconciliation with Māori, Vogel used his political and creative platforms to influence enfranchisement.

__

Ursula LE GUIN

(1929–2018)

The Left Hand of Darkness

New York, Walker and Company, 1969

Acquisition supported by the Women Writers Fund, RARES 813.54 L52L (1969)

Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel in 1970, Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness is a seminal work in the progression of feminist science fiction. Following the story of a solitary interstellar envoy to the ice planet Winter, the work explores themes of gender fluidity in reproduction. During a monthly cycle, Winter’s ambisexual inhabitants have evolved transposable reproductive organs. This first edition of the novel is from the library of pioneering science fiction editor Judy-Lynn Del Rey.

__

Joanna RUSS

(1937–2011)

The Female Man

London, Star Books, 1977

Peter Nicholls Collection, RARES 808.3876 N5149RF

Science fiction often mirrors societal challenges and the collective conscious, pushing the boundaries of human imagination for change. Joanna Russ’s work explores gender identity and fluidity in four unique parallel universes. A ‘female man’ fuses the body and soul of women with the mind of men.

__

The Future is Female: Feminist Visions of Tomorrow

For centuries, women writers have used speculative fiction to question the world around them. From the wonders of ecological balance to bleak warnings of apocalyptic futures, these radical acts of writing explore and challenge the status quo.

This display explores female speculative utopian and dystopian fiction and its role in questioning power, gender, and freedom. From the bizarre anthropomorphic world of Cavendish to the ambisexual society of Le Guin, speculative female fiction continues to explore resistance and the possibility for alternative futures.

__

Margaret ATWOOD

(Born 1939)

The Handmaid’s Tale

London, Jonathan Cape, 1986

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection, RAREGAA 813 AT9H (UK)

The Handmaid’s Tale is arguably Atwood’s magnum opus, captivating readers for decades with its feminist dystopian themes, and winning the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987. The acclaim and relevance of The Handmaid’s Tale continues today, with the popular television adaptation launched in 2017. Atwood’s characters navigate the oppressive patriarchal regime of the totalitarian Republic of Gilead, where women are stripped of their individual and reproductive autonomy. The Handmaid’s Tale continues to be a powerful cautionary account of the dangers in complacency during shifts in ideology. It continues to be one of the most banned and contested books in America.

__

Ayn RAND

(1905–1982)

Atlas Shrugged

New York, Random House, 1957

Acquired with the generous support of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, RARES 813.52 R15A (1957)

Ayn Rand’s philosophical Atlas Shrugged explores the necessity and desirability of individualism and capitalism. Both a work of science fiction and mystery, Rand’s book continues to attract new readers, generating intense debate on whether this is a piece of utopian or dystopian literature.

__

Mary MOORE-BENTLEY

(1865–1953)

A Woman of Mars, or, Australia’s Enfranchised Woman

Sydney, Edwards, Dunlop & Co., 1901

RARELT A823.2 M7814W (1901)

Considered the first woman to write an Australian radical- feminist science-fiction novel, Mary Moore-Bentley had her novel rejected by publishers in 1890. The work reflected the pressing social issue of the time: women’s suffrage. Achieving ‘human perfection’ on the feminist utopia of Mars, Vesta travels to Sydney. Appalled by the marginalisation of Earth’s women, she bestows to humanity the virtues of a Martian utopia of complete emancipation for women. In 1903, Moore-Bentley was one of four women to contest the first federal election in which women could nominate.

__

Susie WILSON, artist

(Dates unknown)

‘There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns. – Octavia E. Butler’ 2019

Poster from Celebrate People’s History Poster Series

Rare Books Collection

__

Oscar WILDE, author

(1854–1900)

Frans MASEREEL, illustrator

(1899–1972)

The Ballad of Reading Gaol

London, Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1924

RARES 821.89 W64B (1924)

Oscar Wilde’s trial for gross indecency concluded on 25 May 1895. He was convicted and sentenced to almost two years in prison. The Ballad of Reading Gaol narrates the execution of inmate Charles Thomas Woodbridge. Wilde and 50,000 men convicted for homosexual acts were posthumously pardoned in 2017.

__

Oscar WILDE

(1854–1900)

After Berneval

London, Beaumont Press, [1922]

RARES 928.28 W64A

Oscar Wilde’s letters to friend, lover and literary executor Robert Ross were posthumously printed by the Beaumont Press around 1922. The letters provide a vivid account of Wilde’s reintegration into the world after his incarceration. In a letter dated Friday 8 October 1897, an exasperated Wilde attempts to reconcile his time in prison and its subsequent financial strain. Exiled in 1897 to Berneval, France, Wilde wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol in the company of Robert Ross.

__

Oscar WILDE, author

(1854–1900)

Alastair (Hans Henning) VOIGHT, illustrator

(1899–1972)

The Sphinx

London, J. Lane, The Bodley Head; New York, J. Lane Co., 1920

RARESF 821.89 W64SP

__

Oscar WILDE, author

(1854–1900)

Henry KEEN, illustrator

(1899–1935)

The Picture of Dorian Gray

London, John Lane, The Bodley Head Ltd, [1925]

RARES 823.8 W64P (1925)

The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde’s most widely read work. The gothic horror novel appeared in 1890 as a novella in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine and was published as a novel the following year. It attracted universal disdain from Victorian England, and was cited as evidence for Wilde’s conviction in 1895 of ‘gross indecency’ (homosexuality). Dorian Gray would become a literary classic, and after Wilde’s death, in 1900, numerous editions of his works were pirated by publishers Leonard Smithers and Charles Carrington.

__

Oscar WILDE, author

(1854–1900)

André DERAIN, illustrator

(1880–1954)

Salomé: Drame en un acte (Salome: A Drama in One Act)

Paris, Imprimé pour les membres de the Limited Editions Club, 1938

RARESF 822.8 W64S

Oscar Wilde’s literary legacy has long influenced writers and artists, and his work is popular in private press publications. Henri Matisse and André Derain were co-founders of Fauvism (a movement accentuating bold colours and brush strokes). Derain’s Limited Editions Club issue on display here includes ten striking pochoir (stencilled) plates in the fauvist aesthetic.

__

Oscar WILDE

(1854–1900)

Salome

London, J. Lane, The Bodley Head; New York, J. Lane Co., 1907

RARES 822.8 W64SAL

Oscar Wilde’s play Salome was written in French and published in Paris in 1893. It was performed there by Sarah Bernhardt, having been banned in London by Lord Chamberlain. The first English edition appeared in London in 1894, translated by Lord Alfred Douglas and illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley. Wilde felt that the graphics overwhelmed the text, and the publishers, who commissioned the artwork, demanded a reduction of what they perceived as the grotesque nudity in the plates. The play was not performed publicly in Britain until 1931.

__

Oscar WILDE, author

(1854–1900)

Aubrey Beardsley, illustrator

(1872–1898)

Aubrey Beardsley’s Illustrations to Salome

[London, John Lane, 1906]

RARESEF 741.942 B3803A

__

Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
‘’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, ‘tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.’

From the Symbolists to the Simpsons, generations of audiences have embraced American author Edgar Allen Poe’s gothic nightmare The Raven. A poem of 18 stanzas first published 180 years ago in 1845, its grief-stricken narrator relates a terrifying nocturnal encounter with a sinister, speaking raven.

With its dark and ominous tone and alliterative, visual language, the poem has appealed to artists as much as to readers. This display highlights three iconic illustrated editions of Poe’s poem.

__

John TENNIEL, artist

(1820–1914)

Edgar Allan POE, author

(1809–1849)

The Raven’, in The Poetical Works of Edgar Allan Poe

London, Sampson Low, 1858

RARES 811.3 P75P

Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic masterpiece about a lovelorn man tormented by a sinister, speaking raven in his chamber ‘upon a midnight dreary’ was first published in 1845. Its immediate popularity secured Poe’s place in the literary canon. Illustrators were quick to seize on the imaginative possibilities of the claustrophobic scene, among them the English artist John Tenniel, today best remembered for his work on Lewis Carroll’s two Alice books.

__

Édouard MANET, artist

(1832–1883)

Edgar Allan POE, author

(1809–1849)

The Raven

[Washington, DC], Library of Congress; [Norwalk, Conn.], Easton Press, [1995]

RARESF 811.3 P7522RM

Edgar Allan Poe’s poem The Raven (1845) was beloved by French symbolist poets Charles Baudelaire and Stéphane Mallarmé. A translation by the latter was published as Le Corbeau in 1875, accompanied by Édouard Manet’s deluxe lithographic prints. It is regarded as one of the first livres d’artiste (artist’s books), in which text and image share equal significance, rather than the image merely illustrating text. This 1995 facsimile is itself a rare book.

__

Rick AMOR, artist

(Born 1948)

Edgar Allan POE, author

(1809–1849)

The Raven

Cobargo, NSW, Croft Press, 1990

RARELTF 811.3 P75R

Edgar Allan Poe’s poem continues to invite interpretation by artists around the world, 180 years after it was first published. Melbourne artist Rick Amor’s atmospheric woodcuts suggest the popular identification of the author with the poem’s fictional narrator, whose features are clearly based on those of Poe. Amor’s work was published in an edition of 100, including ten that were bound in leather with six loose additional prints, two of which are shown here, framed on the wall.

__

Iris Murdoch

Dame Jean Iris Murdoch (1919–1999) was an Irish and English author, known for both her novels and philosophical writings. Born in Dublin, she and her family emigrated to London when she was a few weeks old. Although she spent the rest of her life in England, her Irish heritage was of great importance to her. Murdoch studied philosophy at Newnham College, Cambridge (1947–48); her first publication (1953) was a study of the French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.

Murdoch is celebrated as a novelist and playwright of searing power, whose relentless focus on interiority and the subjectivity of human experience won her critical acclaim, multiple awards and honours, and a wide audience. This display is drawn from the Graham and Anita Anderson Collection of literary first editions, an ongoing donation to State Library Victoria through the Cultural Gifts Program.

__

Iris MURDOCH

(1919–1999)

Sartre: A Romantic Rationalist

Cambridge, UK, Bowes & Bowes, 1953

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection

Under the Net

London, Chatto & Windus, 1954

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection

These are first editions of Iris Murdoch’s first published book and first novel, respectively.

__

Iris MURDOCH

(1919–1999)

A Severed Head

London, Chatto & Windus, 1961

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection, RAREGAA 823.91 M94SE (1961)

The Italian Girl

London, Chatto & Windus, 1964

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection, RAREGAA 823.91 M94I

__

Iris MURDOCH

(1919–1999)

The Flight from the Enchanter

London, Chatto & Windus, 1956 [1962 printing]

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection, RAREGAA 823.91 M94F (1962)

An Accidental Man

London, Chatto & Windus, 1971

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection, RAREGAA 823.91 M94A

__

Iris MURDOCH

(1919–1999)

The Red and the Green

London, Chatto & Windus, 1965

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection, RAREGAA 823.91 M94R (1965)

The Time of the Angels

London, Chatto & Windus, 1965

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection, RAREGAA 823.91 M94T

__

Iris MURDOCH

(1919–1999)

The Sea, the Sea

London, Chatto & Windus, 1978

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection, RAREGAA 823.91 M94S

Iris Murdoch won the prestigious 1978 Booker Prize for her 19th novel, The Sea, the Sea. It tells the tale of playwright Charles Arrowby, who moves to live by the sea to write his memoir. There, he unexpectedly encounters his first love, Mary Hartley Fitch, whom he has not seen since their teenage years. With characteristic precision, Murdoch exposes Arrowby’s arrogance and self-delusion and deftly illustrates how humans can lose themselves through obsession. The cover design uses the famous 1831 print The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Japanese artist Hokusai (c. 1760–1849).

__

Iris MURDOCH

(1919–1999)

The Book and the Brotherhood

London, Chatto & Windus, 1987

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection, RAREGAA 823.91 M94B

The Good Apprentice

London, Chatto & Windus, 1985

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection, RAREGAA 823.91 M94G

The covers of both of these books were designed by renowned English artist Tom Phillips (1937–2022), a long-time friend of Iris Murdoch. He was also commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery in London to create Murdoch’s portrait, reproduced on the wall above this case.

__

Iris MURDOCH

(1919–1999)

The Green Knight

London, Chatto & Windus, 1993

Graham and Anita Anderson Collection, RAREGAA 823.91 M94GR

__

Tom PHILLIPS

(1937–2022)

Exhibition print of Iris Murdoch 1984–86

Oil on canvas

National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG 5921 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Iris Murdoch and Tom Phillips met at a dinner party and forged a friendship through a shared passion for Titian’s painting The Flaying of Marsyus (c. 1570–76), which both had seen at a Royal Academy exhibition in London in 1983–84. Titian’s masterpiece appears as the backdrop in Phillips’ portrait of Murdoch.

__

Rick AMOR, artist

(Born 1948)

Edgar Allan POE, author

(1809–1849)

Two prints from The Raven

Cobargo, NSW, Croft Press, 1990

RARELTF 811.3 P75R

__

The Floating Bear

If a bottle can float, then a jar can float, and if a jar floats, I can sit on the top of it, if it’s a very big jar.’ [ . . . ] ‘All boats have to have a name,’ he said, ‘so I shall call mine The Floating Bear'.

– A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh, 1926

Distributed by mail in small batches, The Floating Bear was an informal underground Beat newsletter that ran from 1961 to 1969. Printing using a mimeograph machine, editors Diane Di Prima and Amiri Baraka (as LeRoi Jones) embraced the do-it-yourself nature of community self-publishing and distribution. In this spirit, the newsletter was free and the publication dependent on donations. Di Prima and Baraka’s reputation in the literary and creative Beat scene attracted contributions from William S. Burroughs, Denise Levertov and Allen Ginsberg.

__

Diane DI PRIMA, editor

(1934–2020)

Amiri BARAKA (as LeRoi JONES), editor

(1934–2014)

The Floating Bear: A Newsletter, vols 1, 5, 33, 34

New York, [self-published], 1961–69

RARESF 811.5405 F65

__

Diane DI PRIMA, editor

(1934–2020)

Amiri BARAKA (as LeRoi JONES), editor

(1934–2014)

The Floating Bear: A Newsletter, vols 7, 22, 29, 32

New York, [self-published], 1961–69

RARESF 811.5405 F65

__

Diane DI PRIMA, editor

(1934–2020)

Amiri BARAKA (as LeRoi JONES), editor

(1934–2014)

The Floating Bear: A Newsletter, vols 25, 37

New York, [self-published], 1961–69

RARESF 811.5405 F65

__

Diane DI PRIMA, editor

(1934–2020)

Amiri BARAKA (as LeRoi JONES), editor

(1934–2014)

The Floating Bear: A Newsletter, vol. 20

New York, [self published], 1961–69

Publishers of Beat literature stirred up moral panic with their books, newsletters and bookshops. Small publishers such as City Lights Press and Grove Press were no strangers to legal trials based on charges relating to obscenity. In 1961, Diane Di Prima and LeRoi Jones were arrested following a prison interception of a newsletter mailed to an inmate subscriber. The two items displayed above are an account of the proceedings, where Jones is probed about his homosexual activity and his subsequent response. He was released after the jury failed to return an indictment.

__

Diane DI PRIMA, editor

(1934–2020)

Amiri BARAKA (as LeRoi JONES), editor

(1934–2014)

The Floating Bear: A Newsletter, vols 28, 31, 36

New York, [self-published], 1961–69

RARESF 811.5405 F65

__

Pulp Fiction

The 1950s was a golden era for Australian pulp fiction. Import restrictions on American books and magazines in the 1940s and 1950s created an opportunity for local publishers to meet the growing demand for American-style commercial novels.

Sydney publishers such as Horwitz and Cleveland led the way, developing stables of writers capable of producing books to order, with strikingly designed covers. The ever-popular Larry Kent series ran to more than 400 titles, while Alan Yates, writing under the pseudonym Carter Brown, issued some 300 crime novels in the 30 years between 1954 and 1984. The stories were predominantly set on the mean streets of America.

With the arrival of television and the lifting of import restrictions, in 1959, the demand for locally produced pulp fiction declined. The next generation of ‘gumshoes’ – characters such as Cliff Hardy and Phryne Fisher – plied their trade in distinctly local settings, a sign of Australia’s growing cultural confidence.

__

John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat

This Australian children’s classic, written by Jenny Wagner and illustrated by Ron Brooks, is a gentle story that follows the quiet life and routine of the widowed Rose and her dog, John Brown, and their different reactions to the sudden appearance of the midnight cat. First published in 1977, it won the Children’s Book Council of Australia picture book of the year award in 1978.

There have been many interpretations of what the story is really about: love? loneliness? jealousy? death? Brooks also struggled in capturing the essence of the story, as can be seen by the variation between preparatory illustrations and the finished book. The character of John Brown started out as a somewhat frightening hybrid dog-human character, before settling into the Old English Sheepdog that we know and love.

__

Ron BROOKS, illustrator

(Born 1948)

Dummy books for John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat 1976

Scholastic Dromkeen Children’s Literature Collection, H2014.200/17-18

These two dummy books show earlier impressions of the character John Brown. Ron Brooks initially drew him as a labrador who, as the story progresses, increasingly takes on the human features and dress of Rose’s late husband.

__

Jenny WAGNER, author

(Born 1939)

Ron BROOKS, illustrator

(Born 1948)

John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat

Camberwell, Vic., Penguin Books, 2002

JLT A823.3 W125J (2002)

In the published book, we see John Brown in the form that is familiar to so many of us: the shaggy Old English Sheepdog, rather than the labrador–human figure. John Brown and Rose’s house was very closely modelled on Brooks’ grandparents’ home in Paynesville, Gippsland, right down to the ornaments and the wallpaper.

__

Jenny WAGNER, author

(Born 1939)

Ron BROOKS, illustrator

(Born 1948)

John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat

Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Kestrel Books, 1977

Private collection

Ron BROOKS, illustrator

(Born 1948)

Alternative cover illustration for John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat 1976

Pen and ink and watercolour

Scholastic Dromkeen Children’s Literature Collection

H2014.200/23

__

The difference between the finished cover (above) and the draft cover (below) shows the range of moods Ron Brooks conveyed as he moved through drafts. While he started with a sombre tone and outlook for the whole work, at some point he has clearly shifted gear, as we see in this rather jolly draft cover.

__

Jenny WAGNER, author

(Born 1939)

Ron BROOKS, illustrator

(Born 1948)

John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat

Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1977

JLT A823.3 W125J

Ron BROOKS, illustrator

(Born 1948)

Drawing of Rose putting out the milk bottles for John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat 1976

Scholastic Dromkeen Children’s Literature Collection

H2014.200/22

__

Illustrators have the difficult task of deciding what story they want their pictures to tell. Will they mirror the text or tell a story of their own? Although we know from the narrative that Rose ‘took the milk bottles out’, the book below shows that the scene didn’t make it to the final cut. But what a joy to see it here!

__

Ron BROOKS, illustrator

(Born 1948)

‘John Brown with the Midnight Cat’ [not after c. 2018]

Pen and ink on paper, watercolour

Albert Ullin Collection, H2019.115/13

This iconic image of John Brown confronting the midnight cat comes from the collection of Albert Ullin OAM, who was the founder of Australia’s first children’s bookstore, The Little Bookroom. A keen supporter of art for children’s literature and of up-and-coming local illustrators, Ullin was known to purchase works for his own collection. The midnight cat is said to have been modelled on Ullin’s own cat, Lucifer.

__

Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton’s Treehouse Series

In 2011, we first joined the adventures of Andy (the author) and Terry (the illustrator) in The 13-Storey Treehouse, as they attempted to complete a book by their publisher’s deadline. Along with their neighbour Jill, Andy and Terry experience a string of distractions and go on crazy adventures, and over the next 12 years, their treehouse grows to a whopping 169 storeys. But the treehouse didn’t just grow upwards; its reach also spanned the globe.

Last year Andy and Jill Griffiths were kind enough to donate a copy of every international edition of the Treehouse books that they owned. It is hoped that this collection will be a lasting tribute to the global popularity of the books and will serve as an interesting record for anyone studying the publication history of one of Australia’s most beloved children’s series.

This showcase celebrates the international appeal of the Treehouse series in a fittingly chaotic way, offering a sample of the titles gifted to the library, interspersed with some treats loaned from Andy and Jill’s own collection.

__

Barky the Non-Barking Robo-Dog 2015

Mixed media

Loan from Andy and Jill Griffiths

The original Barky makes his first appearance in The 13-Storey Treehouse. He is the star of ‘Barky the Barking Dog’ TV show, and Terry is a big fan. Andy? Not so much. When Andy and Terry travel to the future in The 65-Storey Treehouse they discover it is 100 per cent danger-proof and that the future version of Barky is a non-barking robot dog. This sculpture was created by Dymocks Garden City in Booragoon, in Western Australia, for the launch of The 65-Storey Treehouse.

__

Andy GRIFFITHS, author

(Born 1961)

Terry DENTON, illustrator

(Born 1950)

鄭安淳, translator

疯狂树屋13层 : 安迪和他的秘密實驗室 / Fēngkuáng shù wū 13 céng: Ān dí hé tā de mìmì shíyàn shì (The 13-Storey Treehouse)

Táiběi Shì [China, Xia˘o màitián chūba˘n, 2015

RAREJLT A823.4 G8757TZ (1)

The Chinese edition of The 13-Storey Treehouse.

__

Mermaidia 2011

Mixed media

Loan from Andy and Jill Griffiths

This is a found object that has been embellished by Jill Griffiths and turned into Mermaidia. Terry is smitten with Mermaidia when she first appears in The 13-Storey Treehouse. He is heartbroken when her true form and motives are revealed!

__

Andy GRIFFITHS, author

(Born 1961)

Terry DENTON, illustrator

(Born 1950)

Сергій СТЕЦЬ, translator

39-поверховий будинок на дереві / 39-poverkhovyĭ budynok na derebi (The 39-Storey Treehouse)

Kyïv [Kyiv], Artbuks, 2021

RAREJLT A823.4 G8757TS (3)

The Ukrainian edition of The 39-Storey Treehouse.

__

Quicksand Pit 2023

Mixed media

Loan from Andy and Jill Griffiths

This sculpture was created by Andy and Jill’s daughter, Sarah, and her partner, Jakub. The quicksand pit is on level 64 of the treehouse. Don’t forget your inflatable shoes if you don’t want to sink!

__

Andy GRIFFITHS, author

(Born 1961)

Terry DENTON, illustrator

(Born 1950)

Ānītā YĀR MUḤAMMADĪ, translator

(Born c. 1987)

Khānah drkhtá 26 ṭbqh (The 26-Storey Treehouse)

Tihrān, Nashr Būyā, 1395 [2016 or 2017]

RAREJLT A823.4 G8757TY (2)

The Persian edition of The 26-Storey Treehouse.

__

اندی گریفیتس ; تصوير گر: تری دنتون ; مترجم: آنيتا يارمحمدى /

The 104-Storey Treehouse sneakers

Mixed media, 2018

Loan from Andy and Jill Griffiths

These decorated sneakers were given to Andy by a fan at The 104-Storey Treehouse launch. They are a lovely example of how the series has sparked creativity in its followers.

__

Andy GRIFFITHS, author

(Born 1961)

Terry DENTON, illustrator

(Born 1950)

Hege MEHREN, translator

(Born 1961)

Gutta i det du-tror-det-ikke-før-du-får-se-det store trehuset med 52 etasjer (The 52-Storey Treehouse)

[Oslo], Fontini, [2015]

RAREJLT A823.4 G8757TM (4)

The Norwegian edition of The 52-Storey Treehouse.

__

Andy GRIFFITHS, author

(Born 1961)

Terry DENTON, illustrator

(Born 1950)

Treehouse Trivia: Questions about The 13-Storey Treehouse

Sydney, Pan MacMillan, 2014

Rare Books Collection

The chaos of this display case is complemented with a smattering of Treehouse Trivia cards.

__

Horn-books

In use from the 15th to 18th century, horn-books were a common learning aid for children in English-speaking countries. They were typically made from a wooden paddle designed to be held by small hands. The paddle bore a lesson sheet on one side that would originally have been made of vellum or parchment (and later, paper). This was then covered by a thin sheet of cow’s horn to help preserve the text. The term ‘horn-book’ came to refer to any tablet featuring the alphabet, whether or not horn was involved in its production. This case includes historic and facsimile examples.

__

Chapbooks

As more people learnt to read, the desire for a form of cheap literature grew. In the 17th and 18th centuries, ‘chapbooks’, an inexpensive, mass-produced form of the book, became popular. These were originally aimed at adults and were abridged versions of popular stories. They were sold by travelling ‘chapmen’ at a fraction of the cost of a regular book. When chapbooks for children appeared, they often contained moral and religious lessons. By the 19th century, however, children’s chapbooks were generally more concerned with entertainment and amusement, as can be seen from the chapbooks collected here.

__

__

EXPLORING THE WORLD

Books reflect our desire to know the world: to see it, classify it and make sense of it. They have always both documented the past and recorded the new. From scientific discoveries to journeys to new lands, books enable the sharing of novel ideas and information.

Before the age of air travel and mass media, books were crucial in making the world accessible to many. Books now share this space with the internet. Because of their physicality – their ability to be held and owned, and to bring together word and image – books continue to be central to our lives.

__

Japan and the Book

In 2024, State Library Victoria acquired an example of the oldest-known printed text from Japan, and one of the oldest in the world. Created 764–768 CE, the Hyakumantō Darani is a Buddhist sutra (prayer) printed on paper using a wooden or metal plate and housed in a wooden pagoda. At the start of her reign, Empress Shōtoku ordered one million of these scrolls be produced, and then distributed among the ten major Buddhist temples in Japan.

The technology of printing has revolutionised human culture, enabling the mass-production and distribution of information, ideas, beliefs and stories around the world. While printing in Europe began in the 1450s, its origins are found centuries earlier in China. There, a method for printing pages of image and text from carved wooden blocks was developed as early as the 7th century, and metal moveable type was in use from the 12th century onwards. From China, printing technology spread throughout East Asia.

In celebration of this extraordinary acquisition – the only example in an Australian public collection – join us on a journey through the history of printing and books in Japan, as told through the treasures of the state’s Rare Book Collection.

__

Sheet from Tesukiwashi Taikan (A Collection of Traditional Handmade Japanese Papers), vol. 1

Tokyo, The Mainichi Newspapers, 1974

RARESEF 676.22 T28

Papermaking has existed in Japan since the 7th century, drawing on older Chinese techniques. The flexible yet durable surface of paper enables printing, and so it follows that the oldest examples of printed text in the world come from China, Korea and Japan. These samples show the papers used to print the four darani texts (charms, spells or prayers) distributed by Empress Shōtoku as the Hyakumantō Darani (One Million Pagodas and Darani Prayers) in the 760s. The prayers come from the Mahayana Buddhist Sanskrit text Vimalasuddhaprabhasa mahadharani sutra (The Sutra of the Great Incantations of the Undefiled Pure Light).

__

誠忠義士遖遺録: 訂正十八筒條

[Tokyo], Man’endō-zō, c. 1870

RARES 686.20952 SE41M

The earliest forms of text and image printing in Asia, and later in Europe, used wooden or metal matrices such as this one. They were carved or engraved to allow multiple printings of the same information. The book that the block was used to print was about the 47 rōnin (a wandering samurai) who served Asano Naganori (1665–1701), lord of Ako, a domain in Harima Province, and were often referred to as the ‘Faithful Samurai’ (誠忠義士).

__

Modern Japanese woodblock carving and printing tools

Private collection

The tools used in traditional Japanese bookmaking have not changed over the centuries. Shown here are a baren (a disc-shaped tool used to rub the back of a sheet of paper as it sits on top of an inked woodblock); a maru-bocho (a round paper knife used by scroll mounters to cut paper and lined silk); three tako-bake brushes (made of deer hair, bamboo and cotton thread, and used for detailed brushwork); and a bamboo spatula (used on paper, board and textiles for scoring and marking, lifting and folding).

__

以呂波判 (Iroha stamps)

[Japan, maker unidentified, early 20th century]

Rare Books Collection

This is a complete set of metal movable type pieces for the 48 characters in the iroha. This is a short poem containing each character in the Japanese syllabary and often referred to as the Japanese alphabet. Japan’s first contact with Europe came through the missionary activity of Portuguese Jesuits in the early 16th century. The technology of moveable type was brought back to Japan by the Tenshō embassy. This diplomatic visit to the pope and kings of Europe was led by Japanese Jesuit Mancio Itō in 1582. Prior to this, text was printed in Japan using carved woodblocks or metal plates.

__

ATISAKO Ritō, author

(1780–1814)

Miyako rinsen meishō zue (Pictorial Guide to Gardens in Kyoto), vol. 1

Osaka, Yanagihara Kihē; Kyōto, Yoshinoya Tamehachi; Kōto [Edo], Suharaya Zengorō, [1799]

RARES 915.2 AK5M

Throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries in Japan, leisure travel and sightseeing became a popular pastime for the wealthy. Woodcut illustrated books that featured such places were known as meisho zue (famous places illustrated), a term invented by author Atisako Ritō. Today we might call them guidebooks. This popular work on Kyoto’s gardens was illustrated by Sakuma Sōen (?–1814), Nishimura Chūwa (active late 1800s) and Oku Bunmei (1773–1813).

__

KATSUSHIKA Hokusai (known as HOKUSAI)

(1760–1849)

Hokusai Manga

Tokyo, Yoshikawa Hanshichi, 1814–78 (a later printing)

RARES 741.9 H68

Katsushika Hokusai is one of the most celebrated Japanese artists. A painter, draughtsman and printmaker, Hokusai produced an enormous body of work over a period of 70 years. His work represents the technical pinnacle of colour woodblock printing, demonstrating his mastery of the form and ability to produce fine gradations of colour from multiple blocks.

__

KATSUSHIKA Hokusai (known as HOKUSAI)

(1760–1849)

Hokusai Manga, vols 3, 10

Tokyo, Yoshikawa Hanshichi, 1814–78 [a later printing]

RARES 741.9 H68

Celebrated painter, draughtsman and printmaker Hokusai created an enormous body of work. His 15-volume Manga, or ‘random or whimsical sketches’, is in many ways a precursor to the Japanese manga comics of today. It contains thousands of images depicting all aspects of Japanese daily life. Hokusai’s drawings reveal both his technical mastery and his humorous observations of the world around him. His Manga was an instant success and is credited with starting the Japonisme art movement in France after it became known there by the mid-19th century.

__

KATSUSHIKA Hokusai (known as HOKUSAI)

(1760–1849)

Fugaku hyakkei (One Hundred Views of Mt Fuji), vols 1, 2

Nagoya, Katano Toshiro, 1834 – c. 42 [1876 printing]

RARES 741.9 H68FU

Mt Fuji occupies a special place in the Japanese psyche, aesthetically, spiritually and traditionally. It was a favoured subject of Hokusai. In this three-volume series he combined views of the sacred mountain with scenes of farmers and fishermen, animals, forests and the sea. The work was published when Hokusai was in his 70s and includes prefaces by the leading literati of the time. In the afterword, Hokusai details his planned stylistic development to the age of 110. Hokusai’s views of Mt Fuji have exerted considerable influence on Western art since they were first reproduced in Europe in the 1860s.

__

Kawanabe KYŌSAI

(1831–1889)

Kyosai hyakki gadan (Pictorial Accounts of One Hundred Goblins)

Tokyo, Okawa Jokichi, 1889 [1895 printing]

RARES 741.9 G43H

Kyōsai (sometimes Anglicised as Gyōsai) was known for his absurd and fantastical subjects, his energetic style and his dissolute lifestyle. The most noted exponent of the satirical print genre that developed in the Meiji era (1868–1912), he humorously captured the struggle between the imperial court and the decline of the shogunate, with the tensions of change between tradition and modernisation. Reflecting his adopted name Kyōsai (crazy studio), he created kyoga (crazy pictures) that often used goblins, demons, supernatural shapeshifters and magical animals to satirise contemporary events, political characters and legends.

__

UTAGAWA Kuniyoshi (known as KUNIYOSHI)

(1797–1861)

Ansei kenbunshi (Observations of the Ansei Era)

Edo [Tokyo], Hattori, 1856

RARES 551.22095213 AN8ED

Throughout its long history, Japan has been rocked by devastating earthquakes. This book, from a series of three, documents the aftermath of the Great Ansei earthquake, which destroyed the city of Edo (present-day Tokyo) in 1855. The illustrator, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, was a leading print artist at this time and renowned for his skilful depictions of warriors and beautiful courtesans. Here Kuniyoshi has captured the suffering and chaos of the people who were in the Yoshiwara, or the pleasure quarter of the city, when the quake hit.

__

Kawanabe KYŌSAI

(1831–1889)

Gyōsai gadan (Gyōsai’s Discourses on Painting), vols 1, 2

[Tokyo], Iwamoto Shun, Meiji 20 [1887]

RARES 741.9 G43G

Kawanabe Kyōsai (also spelled Gyōsai) was an artist of great individualism and flair, often described as the successor to Hokusai (of whom he was not a pupil). His teacher in the Kanō school, Maemura Tōwa, gave him the nickname ‘the Painting Demon’.

__

HAYASHI Hōkō

(1644–1732)

画筌 (Net of Paintings), vols 2, 3, 4, 5

Naniwa [Osaka], Yōshindō, Kyōhō 6 [1721]

RARESF 741 H323

Natural subjects and motifs have a central role in Japanese art, reflecting the emphasis in Shinto and Zen Buddhist thought on living in harmony with nature. Artistic skill in depicting nature is highly prized, as can be seen in some of the early printed art manuals for painting and drawing. Shown here are four volumes from a painting manual of the Kanō School, a 300-year artistic dynasty that began in the 15th century under the master Kanō Masanobu (1434–1530). Although not a Zen Buddhist himself, Masanobu was closely associated with Zen temples and the Chinese style of painting and calligraphy favoured therein.

__

HANABUSA Ippō

(1691–1760)

畫本圖編 (Picture Book of Drawings)

Kami-gyō-ku [Kyoto], Fujii Magobē, [Hōreki 2; 1752]

RARES 741.9 H19E

This woodblock-printed book by artist Hanabusa Ippō reproduces his drawings of paintings by the artist Hanabusa Itchō (1652–1724). The latter was a renowned painter, calligrapher and poet who trained originally in the Kanō School. He later rejected this training and adopted the Nanga (Southern painting) style, also known as Bunjinga (literati painting). These terms were applied to Japanese artists practising a style of abstracted, expressive art favoured by Chinese scholar-calligraphers and first formulated in the Northern Song period (960–1127).

__

IMAO Keinen

(1845–1924)

Keinen kacho gafu (Pictorial Models of Flowers and Birds by Keinen), vol. 3

Kyoto, Nishimura Sōzaemon, 1891

RARESF 741.952 IL9S

This book of bird and flower prints established Kyoto-born Imao Keinen’s career. He would go on to become a leading figure in the 20th-century shin-hanga (new prints) movement. This would breathe new life into the rich tradition of ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world) from the Edo to Meiji period (17th–19th centuries). When Japan opened its borders in the mid-19th century, artists such as Imao had an electrifying effect on European artists, who were dazzled by the unmatched skill of Japanese woodblock printers and the beauty of Japanese aesthetic traditions.

__

One of the Hyakumantō Darani (One Million Pagodas and Darani Prayers)

Nara, Japan, printer unknown, 764–770 CE

RARESEF 294.30242 H991

This extraordinary artefact is one of the oldest surviving texts printed in Japan, and among the oldest in the world. Known as the Hyakumantō Darani, it is one of a million darani (prayers or charms) printed at the order of the Empress Shōtoku on her ascension to the throne in 764 CE. Printed using a carved woodblock or metal plate, each darani was housed in a miniature wooden pagoda painted with gesso (much of which is lost). This example came from the Horyuji Temple in Nara, as stated on the storage box. It is the only darani in an Australian public collection.

__

Facsimile of the Hyakumantō Darani (One Million Pagodas and Darani Prayers)

Nara, Japan, printer unknown, 764–770 CE

RARESEF 294.30242 H991

Four different prayers from the Mahayana Buddhist Sanskrit text Vimalasuddhaprabhasa mahadharani sutra (The Sutra of the Great Incantations of the Undefiled Pure Light) were distributed as part of the Empress Shōtoku’s project: the Konpon, Sōrin, Jinshin’in and Rokudō sutras. This is one of the Sōrin sutras, translated into Middle Chinese. It is printed in the Chinese characters that were used in Japan in this period. The original has been rolled up for almost 1300 years, so cannot be safely flattened for display. The facsimile shown allows you to see the text.

__

The original Sanskrit text of the Vimalasuddhaprabhasa mahadharani sutra is lost – it survives in Tibetan and Chinese translations and has not been published in English. The sutra contains a prayer to be recited when building or repairing a Buddhist pagoda (a tiered tower). This unpublished translation from Chinese was made by Eric Ceadel (University Librarian, Cambridge University), with the help of scholar Sir Harold Bailey:

Hail! In my purification from impurity
by all the Supreme Beings,
restore my impeded strength.
Container of the nature of the Supreme Being,
contain it, contain it.
Maintain it, all you Supreme Beings.
Blessed in your blessing. Amen.

State Library Victoria thanks Prof. Peter Kornicki, Cambridge University, for access to this translation.

__

TSUCHIYA Koitsu

(1870–1949)

Horyuji Temple, Nara, Japan [1938]

Colour woodblock print

Rare Books Collection

The Horyuji Temple in Nara was one of the recipients of the miniature wooden pagodas commissioned by Empress Shōtoku when she entered her reign. By the late 19th century, it had around 3000 of the darani scrolls. In 1908, the temple monks began to sell them to raise funds for building works, leading to their wide circulation outside Japan. This beautiful colour woodblock print, made 30 years after the sale, shows the temple in its serene surrounds.

__

Arnoldus MONTANUS

(1625–1683)

Gedenkwaerdige gesantschappen (Memorable Embassies)

Amsterdam, Jacob Meurs, 1669

RARESF 915.2 M76G

The first-recorded Europeans to have contact with Japan were Portuguese Jesuit missionaries attempting (with partial success) to convert Japanese people to Christianity in the early 16th century. This volume was the first major European work (aside from early Jesuit writings) to deal exclusively with the country. However, Montanus never left the Netherlands; he relied on others’ accounts as his sources, as well as his own speculation. This engraving depicts Japanese and Dutch ambassadors bowing during a mutually respectful meeting.

__

Kami fumi-e (Sacred picture to be trampled upon)

Japan, printer unknown, 文化一年, Bunka ichinen [1804]

Rare Books Collection

This is an example of a kami fumi-e, a sacred image designed to be trampled on as an expression of disdain for the religion to which it is sacred, in this case, Christianity. The religion was brought to Japan by Portuguese Jesuit (Catholic) missionaries in the mid-1500s. While the religion was adopted by some, by 1614 Christians were subject to persecution endorsed by the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868). From around 1634 onwards, formal ceremonies were held requiring people to trample on Christian images, such as this depiction of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ’s mother.

__

Philipp Franz VON SIEBOLD

(1796–1866)

Nippon: Archiv zur beschreibung von Japan (Nippon: Archive of the Description of Japan)

Leiden, Bei Dem Verfasser, 1852

RARESF 915.2S11

From first contact in the early 16th century until the mid-19th century, trade between Japan and Europe took place under highly controlled conditions. The artificial island of Dejima in Nagasaki harbour was created to house Portuguese and, subsequently, Dutch traders and it was the only place foreigners were permitted to live. This volume by Philipp Franz von Siebold is one of the earliest and most comprehensive European studies of Japanese culture, including its people, history, arts and sciences, religion, agriculture, industry and near neighbours. Its author – a doctor, naturalist and teacher – was stationed on Dejima from 1823 until 1829.

__

OSHIKAZU Utagawa

(Active 1850s–1870s)

Western forces landing at Yokohama

Yokohama, Enshuya Hikobei, 1861

Rare Books Collection

Between 1853 and 1867, the isolationist policies of Edo Japan’s Tokugawa shogunate began to break down and contact with Europe increased. A decisive episode was the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry’s US naval fleet in Tokyo Bay in 1853, pursuing an aggressive colonial trade agenda. Perry returned in 1854 to broker the Treaty of Kanagawa, effectively opening Japan’s borders to foreigners. This woodblock triptych print, part of the Yokohama-e genre that documented Japan’s initial encounters with the West, depicts American, British, Dutch, Italian and Russian soldiers landing at Yokohama.

__

Matthew PERRY

(1794–1858)

Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan . . .

Washington, Beverley Tucker, State Printer, 1856

RARESF 915 P42

Commodore Perry’s published account of his voyages included reproductions of colourful Japanese woodblock prints. Here, an American artist has reproduced, using the modern technique of chromo-lithography, a woodblock print of a river crossing. The flat plains of colour and unusual perspectives used in traditional Japanese colour woodblock prints had an electrifying effect on European artists, particularly the Impressionists. Artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas and Claude Monet began collecting Japanese prints, and their works, especially their prints, of the period show the strong influence of Japanese artists.

__

Emily Sophia PATTON

(1831–1912)

Japanese Topsyturvydom

Tokyo, T. Hasegawa, 1896

RARES 915.2 P2784J

English-language books about Japan were popular with readers of all ages, including children. This book for young readers about life in Japan was published in Tokyo for markets in the West. It is printed on processed washi (paper) designed to look like chirimen, a type of crinkled silk crêpe used to make clothing in Japan.

__

Lewis CARROLL, author

(1832–1898)

TANAKA Toshio, translator

(Dates unknown)

John TENNIEL, illustrator

(1820–1914)

Fushigi no kuni no Arisu (Alice in Wonderland [sic])

Tōkyō, Iwanami Shten, Shōwa 30 [1955]

RAREJ 823.8 C23ATT

As Japan opened up to the world in the late 19th century, popular children’s literature, such as the Alice books, were enthusiastically read by Japanese children.

__

YOMO Shunsui

(1834–1896)

Bankoku ōrai (Views of the World)

Kyo, Zeniya Sōshirō, Yamashiroya Kansuke, Yoshinoya Jinsuke, 1871

RARES 910 Y79B

Just as Europeans took a great interest in the newly accessible Japan of the mid-19th century, so too Japanese people looked outwards at the world and began to record what they encountered. This text for children includes rare instances of Japanese copperplate (rather than woodblock) printed illustrations. A kangaroo and her joey adorns the section on Australia.

__

Lafcadio HEARN, translator

(1850–1904)

The Old Woman Who Lost Her Dumpling, from Japanese fairytale series, no. 24

Tokyo, T. Hasegawa, 1902

RAREJ 398.4 H35O

This is one of a series of fairytales that are the earliest examples of Japanese children’s literature translated into European languages. Takejiro Hasegawa originally marketed the books to Japanese people who wanted to learn English. When it became evident that the books were popular with tourists, Hasegawa applied an innovative compression process to the woodblock-printed pages that resulted in a crêpe effect. He then bound the pages in the traditional Japanese fukuro-toji binding, producing a highly collectable and unique hybrid of European and Japanese book design.

__

RAICHŌ Hiratsuka (and many others), editor

(1886–1971)

Seitō (Bluestocking), vol. 5, no. 10

Tōkyō, Tōundō Shoten, Taisho 4 [1915] Acquired with the generous support of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust

Rare Books Collection

The fight for women’s equality was and remains a global struggle. This is a scarce original issue of the Japanese feminist literary journal Seitō. Its title, ‘Bluestocking’ in English, refers to an educated woman. The origins of the name lie in the 18th-century European salons of women and men who met in informal dress (e.g., blue woollen stockings) to discuss intellectual matters. The journal includes many contributions from pioneers of the Japanese women’s liberation movement. It is a fragile original issue of a daring and influential magazine that shaped the history of feminism in Japan.

__

Arkadii Nikolaeivich PETROV

(1881 – after 1938)

Zhenskoe Dvizhenie v Iaponii: V ego proshlom i nastoiashchem (The Women’s Movement in Japan: Its Past and Present)

St Peterburg, Tip. t-va ‘Obshchestvennaia Pol’za’, 1909

Rare Books Collection

Believed to be the first Russian work about Japanese women, this book came about after the author, an economist, was punished for participating in a rally and exiled to Japan, and later to China. He became a specialist on both places. Petrov traces the role of women in Japan from ancient times to his own day, highlighting notable women involved in politics, culture and art. This includes Lady Murasaki, the medieval author of The Tale of Genji, regarded as one of the world’s first novels. He concludes by exploring the importance of women’s education.

__

Frank LLOYD WRIGHT, architect

(1867–1959)

Teikoku Hoteru heimenzu (Imperial Hotel Floor Plan)

Tokyo, Kou You Sha, 12 [1923]

RARES 728.50952135 T23W

In the late 1880s, the boom of European tourists to Japan necessitated the building of a large hotel in Tokyo. It has been renovated and rebuilt many times. This includes the New Imperial Hotel main building, designed by American modernist architect Frank Lloyd Wright in a Mayan Revival style, opened in June 1923. After largely surviving the Great Kantō earthquake on 1 September 1923, this part of the hotel was almost totally demolished in 1967, making this photobook a key record of this internationalist architectural project.

__

MAEDA Tamon

(1884–1962)

西洋かるたの教師 (Western Playing Cards Teacher)

Tokyo, Kamikataya, 1886 (Meiji 19)

Rare Books Collection

In 1886, the sale of European playing cards (karuta) was officially permitted in Japan. This well-used handbook instructs Japanese players on the art of splitting the deck and shuffling, as well as the games ‘Twenty-one’ (presumably Blackjack), Dashijimai, Tentori, Napoleon and Another Method of Fortune Telling. Ephemeral publications such as this often do not survive in great numbers. This is the only known copy in Australia.

__

Giovanni BOCCACCIO, author

(1313–1375)

Antoine Sabatier DE CASTRES, translator into French

(1742–1817)

TONOSUKE Kondo, translator into Japanese

(Dates unknown)

OGATA Gekkō, illustrator

(1859–1920)

鴛鴦奇観: 伊太利國ボッカス翁十日物語ノ (Mandarin Duck Spectacle: Inside Boccus, Tale of the Ten Days in Italy)

Tokyo: Takasaki Shobo, Meiji 20 [1887]

Rare Books Collection

__

This translation, via French, of an Italian poem is a fascinating example of Japanese engagement with European culture in the late 19th century. In 1348, the bubonic plague devastated Italy. Boccaccio’s Decameron is composed of ten stories by a group of young people who have fled Florence for a villa in surrounding hills, hoping to escape the plague. Told to each other, the stories form their entertainment while in isolation. Sabatier de Castres translated it under the title Les Contes de Boccace. Tonosuke Kondo’s Japanese translation of the French edition includes only three stories. The illustrations were created by the brilliant Japanese painter Ogata Gekko.

__

Scrapbook with covers from Shochikuza News, imitators and competitors such as Ohashiza News, souvenir brochures and the magazine  (Travel)

[Japan, compiler not identified, between 1920 and c. 1948]

RARESF 741.6520952 SCR16O

Just as Japanese woodblock printmaking exerted a huge influence on 19th-century European art, in the first half of the 20th century, European styles such as Art Deco and Bauhaus had a seismic impact on Japanese culture and aesthetics. This scrapbook from the interwar years shows the strong influence of European graphic design (and the English language) on Japanese magazines.

__

Hail! In my purification from impurity

by all the Supreme Beings,

restore my impeded strength.

Container of the nature of the Supreme Being,

contain it, contain it.

Maintain it, all you Supreme Beings.

Blessed in your blessing. Amen.

The Library’s newly acquired Hyakumantō Darani is on display to your left. Its scroll contains the Sōrin sutra, one of four texts from the Vimalasuddhaprabhasa mahadharani sutra placed inside the one million Hyakumantō Darani produced in Japan in the 760s. The text is a prayer to be recited when building or repairing a Buddhist pagoda (a tiered tower).

The original Sanskrit text is lost – it survives in Tibetan and Chinese translations and has not been published in English. This unpublished translation from Chinese was made by Eric Ceadel (University Librarian, Cambridge University), with the help of Sanskrit scholar Sir Harold Bailey. State Library Victoria thanks Prof. Peter Kornicki, Cambridge University, for access to this translation.

__

Victor HUGO, author

(1802–1885)

Anne MALLEVAY, translator

(Birth date unknown)

Les misérables

Paris, Soleil Manga, 2012

Donated by John Drury, 2014, RARES 843.7 H87MM

First published in 1862, Victor Hugo’s Les misérables is a tale of revolution, poverty, love and tragedy. It has inspired authors, playwrights, musicians and artists everywhere, including in Japan. This edition is based on a Japanese graphic novel version that has been translated back into French and then released by French specialist manga publisher Soleil Manga. The artists involved are not credited.

__

Maureen SPURGEON, author

(Born 1941)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Enter: The Rat King

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Return of the Technodrome

Maidstone, Victoria, Len Hunter Trading, 1990

JLT 823.914 SP9T

In 1984, four heroes in half-shells climbed out of the New York sewers and into our lives. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo made their debut in a comic books series by American artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Named for Italian renaissance artists, the four baby turtles are rescued from radioactive sludge by their sensei, a mutant rat named Splinter. He trains the mutant turtles in the arts of ninjutsu. In the last 40 years, the hugely popular franchise has expanded from a comic to a cartoon, books, computer games, a movie series and toys.

__

Disposable party bowl featuring Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1990

Realia Collection, H91.102/89

Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird founded Mirage Studios in 1983 in Dover, New Hampshire, to publish their new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic series. The explosive popularity of the four turtles led to an array of associated products in different media, including party goods like this plate, sure to be a hit at any child’s birthday party in the 1990s. Anyone for a slice of pepperoni pizza?

__

Osamu TEZUKA

(1928–1989)

Astro Boy, books 1 and 2

Milwaukie, Oregon, Dark Horse Manga, 2008

Private collection

Astro Boy is a character created by legendary artist Osamu Tezuka in the early 1960s and featured in his own cartoon from 1963 onwards. A robot made in the image of his inventor’s dead son, Astro Boy is frozen in childhood and destined to occupy a liminal space between the human and the machine. Tensions and fears about artificial intelligence dominate his existence, a theme increasingly relevant today. Astro Boy was the first anime character to achieve popularity with non-Japanese audiences, opening the door to the huge success of Japanese animation and culture around the world in the late 20th century and today.

__

J.K. (Joanna Kathleen) ROWLING, author

(Born 1965)

Yuko MATSOUKA, translator

(Born c. 1944)

Dan SCHLESINGER, illustrator

(Born 1955)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Japanese Edition)

Tokyo, Say-zan-sha Publications, 2001

Rare Books Collection

The Harry Potter novels have been translated into 63 languages, including Japanese, as shown here. Yuko Matsouka is the president of the series' Japanese publisher, Say-zan-sha, and has translated all the Potter books for Japan.

__

Koji SUZUKI, author

(Born 1957)

Robert B. ROHMER and Glynne WALLEY, translators

(Dates unknown)

Ring

New York, Vertical, 2003

RARES 895.635 SU9R

Japanese authors and filmmakers have had a strong influence on American cinema from the mid-20th century onwards, particularly in the genres of horror and the supernatural. Koji Suzuki’s cult novel Ring was first published in 1991. Along with two other titles in a trilogy, Spiral (1995) and Loop (1998), it was the basis for a franchise of Japanese films, television series, video games and manga books, followed by American adaptations.

__

Koji SUZUKI, author

(Born 1957)

Glynne WALLEY, translator

(dates unknown)

Spiral

New York, Vertical, 2004

RARES 895.635 SU9S

Loop

NEw York, Vertical, 2005

RARES 895.635 SU9L

__

Lewis CARROLL, author

(1832–1898)

Yayoi KUSAMA, illustrator

(Born 1929)

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

London, Penguin Classics, 2012

Rare Books Collection

This edition of the classic children’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, first published in 1865, pairs two iconic figures: author Lewis Carroll (the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) and Japan’s most celebrated contemporary artist, Yayoi Kusama. Kusama’s art is instantly recognisable for its use of dots and vivid colours, echoes of the visual hallucinations she has experienced since childhood. Her psychedelic interpretation is an apt accompaniment to Carroll’s surreal tale, which has inspired artists from all over.

__

RZA (Robert Fitzgerald Diggs), author

(Born 1969)

Chris Norris, author

(Birth date unknown)

The Wu-Tang Manual

New York, Riverhead Books, 2005

A 782.4216490922 R997W

The American East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan was founded by Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, with seven others, in Staten Island, New York, in 1992. The group was named after the 1983 Hong Kong film Shaolin and Wu Tang. Wu-Tang Clan has become one of the most iconic musical groups across all genres: a cult favourite, a commercial success, and critically lauded. The Wu-Tang Manual explores the history, language, influences, and spirituality of the group.

__

Takashi OKAZAKI

(Born 1974)

Afro Samurai, vols 1–2

UK, Titan Books, 2023

Rare Books Collection

Black American activists in the 1960s drew parallels between the Civil Rights movement in the United States and the struggles of peoples in East and South-East Asia to overthrow colonial governments. The intersectionality of Black and Asian experiences has created a vibrant new artistic genre known as Afro-Japanese. Afro Samurai is a manga classic of the subgenre Afro-Japanese-Futurism. In the futuristic Japan created by Takashi Ozakai, warlords and assassins compete for supremacy, using technology alongside tradition. The story (also a television series with music by Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA) follows the boy Afro Samurai as he seeks revenge for his father’s death.

__

Ruiko YOSHIDA, photographer

(1938–2024)

Hajime KIJIMA, author

(1928–2004)

Harlem: Black Angels

Tokyo, Kodansha, 1974

Rare Books Collection

Photojournalist Ruiko Yoshida’s book Harlem Angels is a street-based photo essay of Harlem, New York, where she lived during the 1960s. First published in Japan in 1974, it has become a cult classic of Afro-Japanese cultural exchange. Her photographs capture the everyday reality of the historical turmoil of 1960s America for Black communities.

__

Ronald WIMBERLY

(Born 1945)

Gratuitous Ninja, episode nos 7, 8

Gratuitous Ninja, episode nos 1, 2

Philadelphia, Beehive Books, 2023

Rare Books Collection

Black American artist Ronald Wimberly works across many genres. His Afro-Japanese graphic novel Gratuitous Ninja is a non-linear story comprising ‘636 pageless scrolling pages . . . four hundred consecutive feet of comics bubbling with pugilist praxis, chanbara (‘samurai cinema) dialectics, pyrate vs. ninja warfare, and a whole secret history of NYC’. Its form plays with accordion-style traditional Japanese orihon book structure by presenting its images vertically rather than horizontally.

__

Ronald WIMBERLY

(Born 1945)

Gratuitous Ninja box

Gratuitous Ninja, ‘MSGR Gaidan-Part 1’

Philadelphia, Beehive Books, 2023

Rare Books Collection

The ‘Kuroda’ edition of GratNin (as the series is known) is presented in a custom die-cut interlocking display box, signed and numbered by author Ronald Wimberly in a limited edition 250. It includes a cotton-cloth furoshiki wrap, an embossed fine art print, a ninja union card, a foil pack of 12 GratNin trading cards and a subway map detailing secret routes of the GratNin world (not displayed here).

__

YOSHU Nobukazu

(1874–1944)

Playing instruments under the fireworks at Ryogoku 1892

Japan, coloured triptych woodblock print

Rare Books Collection

This elegant scene was printed in the period known as the Meiji Restoration. The incursion of American and European soldiers in the 1850s ended Japan’s long era of isolation under the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1867, Emperor Meiji acceded to the throne and reinstated imperial rule over Japan. While overseeing industrialisation and modernisation, he also championed Japan’s traditions in the face of European cultural, economic and political influence. The aristocratic women in this print wear beautiful kimono and play traditional instruments (the shamisen, koto and kokyu).

__

SAYAMA Hanshichimaru, author

(Active late 1700s – early 1800s)

HAYAMI Shungyōsai, illustrator

(Died c. 1823)

都風俗化粧傳 (Makeup Secrets in the Capital: Women’s Fashions), vols 1, 2, 3

Japan, printer unknown, Bunka 10 [1813]

RARES 391.5 S9

These three volumes comprise one of the most influential beauty manuals of the Edo era, prior to any European influence on Japanese fashion and cosmetics. The fine woodcuts depict women dressing in kimono and arranging their obi (belt), creating their complex hairstyles, undertaking skin-care rituals, shaping their eyebrows and applying makeup. The volumes also instruct women on how to walk and conduct themselves elegantly.

__

GINKO Adachi

(Active 1870–1890)

Ladies sewing 1887

Japan, coloured triptych woodblock print

Rare Books Collection

This triptych print shows Japanese women in European dress using European-style mechanised sewing machines. It was produced before the triptych print of women in traditional Japanese dress shown to the left. The two sets of prints demonstrate the competing influences of Europe and Japan’s traditional past on women of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

__

Dai go gō (Sample book of chirimen)

Kyoto, 1880s

RARES 746.0439 D14C

Chirimen is a plain-weave silk crêpe with an untwisted warp (vertical thread) and a thicker, twisted and starched weft (horizontal thread). After weaving, the cloth is boiled to remove the starch, resulting in a crinkled surface. This book features late-19th-century chirimen samples. A Kyoto kimono draper would have used it to show his well-to-do clients the available patterns and colour combinations, when he visited them at their homes.

__

NESUMI Takenosuke

(Dates unknown)

Somemoyo hinagata: nakadachi kodachi (Book of Dyeing Patterns for Children’s Furisode Kimono)

Osaka, Maekawa Zenbe, 1891

RARES 391.2 N12

This book is a catalogue of decorative designs for children’s kimono. Production of pattern books like this one began in the 17th century, reflecting the importance of and increasing interest in all aspects of dress in Japanese society. As living standards increased, a greater number of people could afford luxury items such as custom-made clothing. Many artists thus turned their hand to the design of kimono fabrics and other accessories of dress.

__

__

ART AND NATURE

Botanical and natural history illustration unites the scientific and mythical with the artistic. Since ancient times, text and image have been used to record observations of nature. Greek physician Dioscorides’ De materia medica (c. 50–70 CE) was the first ‘herbal’, or manual of medicinal information relating to plants, and was a key botanical reference for more than 1500 years.

Knowledge about plants and animals has always been preserved in books, starting in the manuscript era. The Renaissance produced the first printed herbals and bestiaries. The Age of Discovery and the global expansion of colonial interests were rich sources of new and ‘exotic’ flora and fauna. The process for capturing, documenting and illustrating natural history was difficult. Specimens were often dried or preserved to maintain their integrity and were often in less-than-ideal condition when the ship returned to its port of origin.

__

Pietro Andrea MATTIOLI

(1500–1577)

Woodblock for Limonium II (Spinach Beet) c. 1560

RARES 615.32 D627L

This woodblock of a flowering plant in the Limonium genus is cut from pear wood and made to illustrate the 1562 Czech edition of Pietro Andrea Mattioli’s commentary on 1st-century Greek physician Dioscorides. Mattioli identified more than 500 plants originally described by Dioscorides and incorporated new observations of his own. It quickly became the standard book on medical botany for European physicians in the second half of the 16th century, with some 60 editions published in numerous languages.

__

John GERARD

(1545–1612)

The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes

London, John Norton, 1597

RARESF 581.63 G31

Physician John Gerard owned one of the most important English botanical gardens at a time when the study of plants was inseparable from the practice of medicine. The Herball is a catalogue of the ‘vertues’, or properties, of plants. Displayed here is a description of the genus Limonium (sea lavender) and its ‘vertues’: ‘The seede beaten into powder, and drunke in wine, helpeth the collicke, strangurie, and dysternia’. Gerard notes that Limonium ‘staieth the overmuch flowing of womens termes’ (menstruation).

__

Johannes de CUBA, author

(c. 1430–1503)

Hans BALDUNG, illustrator

(c. 1484–1545)

Urs GRAF, illustrator

(c. 1485 – c. 1527)

Ortus sanitatis (Garden of Health)

[Strasbourg], [Johann Prüss], c. 1497

RARESF 093 OR89 (1497)

Compiled by German herbalist and doctor Johannes de Cuba (Johannes von Wonnecke Caub), Ortus sanitatis is considered the first encyclopaedia of natural history. This second Latin edition features more than 1000 woodcuts concerning plants, mammals, birds, insects, fish, monsters, minerals, rocks and urine. In its many editions and translations, it was the most popular and influential herbal remedy work of its time.

__

William COLES

(1626–1662)

The Art of Simpling: An Introduction to the Knovvledge and Gathering of Plants

London, printed by J.G. for Nath. Brook . . . , 1656

RARES 581.63 C47

William Coles was the most notable simpler (plant or herb gatherer) of his time and published two works on the subject. Written four years before the establishment of the Royal Society, William Coles’ classical and medieval theological theories were at odds with scientific rationalism and empirical evidence. Although Coles’ expertise in herb gathering was irrefutable, his knowledge and understanding of their medicinal uses were not. The book on display describes plants that were used in and against witchcraft.

__

Pietro Andrea MATTIOLI

(1500–1577)

De plantis epitome utilissima (Summary of Useful Plants)

Frankfurt, [S. Feyerabend], 1586

RARES 580 M43

This edition of Pietro Mattioli’s herbal includes several plant species used for and against witchcraft. Poisonous plants such as deadly nightshade, hemlock, and black poplar were often associated with powerful witches’ ointments for the purpose of flying. Potentially, this feeling and sensation of flight can be attributed to the hallucinatory effects of the plants. The illustrations on display include plants from the Populus genus. Medicinal use of poplar dates back to ancient Egypt and this plant is still used today.

__

Unknown illustrator

Tractatus de virtutibus herbarum (Tract on the Virtues of Herbs)

Vicenza, Leonardus Achates & Guilielmus de Papia, 1491

RARESEF 016.58163 N63

Hans WEIDITZ, illustrator

(1495–1537)

Contrafayt Kreüterbuch (Imitation Herbal)

Strasbourg, Hans Schotten, 1532

RARESEF 093 G

__

John WHITE

(c. 1737–1832)

Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales

London, printed for J. Debrett, 1790

RARELTF 919.44 W58

John White was the surgeon-general with the First Fleet in 1787–88. His published account of the new colony of New South Wales was the first to give a detailed description of its natural history. White was an enthusiastic amateur natural historian and spent his free hours in the colony recording plants and animals. He was assigned several convicts who were competent draughtsmen, most notably artist Thomas Watling. White sent back to England the men’s sketches and finished watercolour drawings of animals and birds for inclusion in his book.

__

Arthur PHILLIP

(1738–1814)

The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay

London, printed for John Stockdale, 1789

RARELTF 994.02 P54V

Governor Phillip’s account of the 1787–88 voyage of the First Fleet was the second account to be published on the new British colony, and the first to be illustrated. Although attributed to Phillip, the book was published without his active collaboration, having been assembled from various sources, including his official correspondence, by publisher John Stockdale. It records the sea voyage to Botany Bay and the first months of the convict settlement, along with descriptions of the flora and fauna.

__

Suburban animal kingdom

Since the arrival of British colonial ships in 1788, Australia’s native flora and fauna have been in peril. From the introduction of invasive species to agricultural land clearing, colonisation continues to devastate native animals. Melbourne’s city fringe continues to expand at an extraordinary rate, forcing native animals to adapt to habitat loss and predation. A rustle in your ceiling might indicate a new boarder; the plum tree you have been carefully nurturing is stripped bare overnight by a fruit bat; a hairy huntsman hurries across your dashboard, terrifying you as you motor along the Tullamarine Freeway. These all remind us of our proximity to the natural world. They also exemplify the remarkable resilience of native fauna to adapt to new and often-hostile environments.

__

John GOULD

(1804–1881)

The Mammals of Australia, vol. 3

London, the author, 1845–63

RARELTEF 599.0994 G73M

Ornithologist John Gould travelled to Australia with his wife and family in 1838, intent on studying the native bird species for his projected book The Birds of Australia. During his 18-month stay he also became interested in the local fauna, and later issued this three-volume work on Australian mammals. Gould’s wife, Elizabeth, who had produced the majority of drawings and lithographs for his earlier publications, died in 1841. Work on this book was carried out by the artist Henry Richter, who went on to produce more than 1000 lithographs for Gould’s later works.

__

Arthur PHILLIP

(1738–1814)

Exhibition print from The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay

London, printed for John Stockdale, 1789

RARELTF 994.02 P54V

George Robert GRAY

(1808–1872)

Exhibition print from The Entomology of Australia in a Series of Monographs

London, the author, 1833

RARELTF 595.72 G79

__

George SHAW, author and artist

(1751–1813)

Richard P. NODDER, artist

(Active 1793–1820)

The Naturalist’s Miscellany . . .

London, printed for Nodder & Co., 1790–1813

RARES 590 SH2N

George Shaw co-founded the Linnean Society of London in 1788 and, in 1789, was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. Two years later he became assistant keeper (keeper from 1806) of the natural history department at the British Museum, where he was responsible for specimens of many creatures. Shaw was the first Western scientist to examine and describe the platypus. He had doubts about the authenticity of the animal, but in 1799 he published his thoughts in The Naturalist’s Miscellany.

__

Marcus Elieser BLOCH

(1723–1799)

Ichtyologie, ou, Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière des poisons (Ichthyology, or, Natural History, General and Particular, of Fish), vol. 3

Berlin, François de la Garde libraire, 1785–97

RARESEF 597 B62

__

Marcus Elieser BLOCH

(1723–1799)

Ichtyologie, ou, Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière des poisons (Ichthyology, or, Natural History, General and Particular, of Fish), vol. 4

Berlin, François de la Garde libraire, 1785–97

RARESEF 597 B62

Originally published in 1782 under its German title, Allgemeine Naturgeschichte der Fische, the book was translated into French by Jean-Charles Thibault de Laveux and published shortly after. It is profusely illustrated with hand-coloured prints, the various artists using gold, silver and bronze to achieve the metallic sheen of fish scales. Claus Nissen, at the time the world’s foremost expert in illustrated natural history books, heralded Marcus Bloch’s work as ‘the finest illustrated work on fishes ever produced’.

__

Louis RENARD

(1678–1746)

Exhibition prints from Poissons, Ecrevisses et Crabes de Diverses Couleurs et Figures Extraordinaires (Fish, Lobsters and Crabs of Diverse Colours and Extraordinary Shapes)

Amsterdam, Chez Reiner & Josué Ottens, 1754

RARESF 597 R29

__

Edward TOPSELL

(1572–1638)

The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents

London, printed by E. Cotes for G. Sawbridge, T. Williams and T. Johnson, 1658

RARESF 598.12 T62

Edward Topsell published The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes in 1607. It drew heavily on Konrad Gesner’s Historiae animalium (1551–63), reprinting its woodcuts unchanged. In 1608, he issued the Historie of Serpents. These two works were posthumously combined into this single volume in 1658. Topsell’s work is considered an early use of scientific method, even though much of the information was based on classical references.

__

It Came from the Deep

The enduring power of mythical ocean creatures has intrigued and terrified humankind for millennia. From the man-eating Skýlla of Homer’s Odyssey to Jules Verne’s colossal kraken in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, legends of monsters from the deep have spread to all corners of the globe, adapting to cultural symbolism and belief systems along the way.

The rise of interest in the natural world during the early modern period ushered in a new wave of printed works in response. Authors and illustrators compiled descriptions and images of thousands of mythical and factual specimens for their works. Scholarly enquiry was still steeped in religious and traditional cultural beliefs, and books, like the one on display here, continued to be published and read.

__

John JOHNSTON

(1603–1675)

Historiae naturalis de piscibus et cetis (Natural History of Fish and Whales)

Amsterdam, Joannem Jacobi fil. Schipper, 1657

RARESF 597 J64

John Johnston’s multi-volume Historiae naturalis, written in Latin, borrowed heavily from previous works of natural history by Konrad Gesner and Ulisse Aldrovandi. This volume focuses on ocean animals, both real and imagined. These depictions of ‘rays’ highlight the blend between fact and fiction. Books on natural history were dependent upon the condition of available specimens and the honesty of sailors.

__

Image from the collection of Muséum de Toulouse

‘Jenny Haniver’ is the term used for the manipulation of one or multiple fish to create a single new specimen. The 18th-century example in the images above is strikingly reminiscent of the two mythical monsters in John Johnston’s Historiae naturalis.

__

Louis RENARD

(1678–1746)

Poissons, Ecrevisses et Crabes de Diverses Couleurs et Figures Extraordinaires (Fish, Lobsters and Crabs of Diverse Colours and Extraordinary Shapes)

Amsterdam, Chez Reiner & Josué Ottens, 1754

RARESF 597 R29

This book is a product of Dutch colonisation, these plates being based on drawings commissioned by colonial governors of the Moluccas (Maluku Islands) and the provinces of Ambon and Banda. The colours are spectacular, even gaudy, but many of the fish are identifiable species. Others seem to be fanciful inventions, such as an illustration of a mermaid, certified as authentic by the editor!

__

Sebastian MÜNSTER, author

(1489–1552)

Hans Rudolf MANUEL, illustrator

(1525–1571)

Exhibition print from Meerwunder und seltzame thier (Sea Wonders and Strange Animals)

[Getruckt zu Basel, Henrichum Petri, 1550]

From an original book in the collection of the State Library of New South Wales

__

__

ARTISTS AND BOOKS

Books are valued not only for their content but also for their beauty and craft. Since the invention of the codex in the first century CE, artists have been intimately involved in book production, from papermaking and illustration to design and binding.

The mass production and consequent decline in the quality of books in the 19th century prompted artists such as William Morris to revive traditional bookmaking crafts, laying the foundations for the fine press movement. Contemporary artists continue to challenge the nature of the book, ensuring its future as an ever-changing object to be admired, read, viewed, and desired.

__

Book Arts

The book as we know it today is a global form, shaped by cultures and peoples from around the world. Since the development of the codex by the Romans in the 1st century CE, many arts have become central to the production of the book, including binding and papermaking. While the original purpose of binding books was to protect their pages, the art of fine bookbinding transformed books into objects of beauty.

These two displays celebrate Arabic and Islamic bookbinding structures and decorative techniques, shared around the world through travel and trade, from North and West Africa and the Middle East to Europe and South-East Asia. Books from the Michael Abbott Collection showcase this influence on Indonesian bookbinding, while volumes from the John Emmerson Collection illuminate the adoption of blind- and gold-tooled decorative techniques by 17th-century British and French binders.

__

’Abd al-Qāhir AL-JURJĀNĪ

(Died 1078 CE)

Al-’Awāmil al-Mi’ah (One Hundred Elements)

Indonesia, copied c. 19th century

Michael Abbott Collection

The internationally significant Michael Abbott Collection of South-East Asian manuscripts was gifted to State Library Victoria in 2012. Comprising 50 manuscripts (the majority from Indonesia), the collection includes Qur’ans, commentaries, prayers, stories of prophets and other Islamic texts. They are written in a range of languages and scripts, including Arabic, Javanese and Malay, and a number are housed in tooled leather bindings. This volume is an Arabic grammar textbook widely used in Islamic schools in Indonesia and Malaysia.

__

Manuscript compendium of Islamic legal and religious texts

Indonesia, Arabic text in Pegon script, date unknown

Michael Abbott Collection

Islam came to Indonesia through the presence of Arabic Islamic traders visiting the islands from the 13th century onwards. With a religion comes forms of text and styles of bookbinding. This display explores examples of Indonesian bindings that have adopted Arabic structures while using local materials. As seen on this volume, the Arabic ‘envelope’ style of binding uses a flap to enclose the text, keeping it safe from dirt and dirty hands. This form is used throughout Islamic countries, from North and West Africa to the Middle East and South-East Asia.

__

Qur’an

Unknown origin and date

Michael Abbott Collection

Parts of the Iberian Peninsula (including Spain) were under Muslim rule from 711 CE. When a Christian monarchy took control of Spain in 1492, it expelled all Jewish residents who refused to convert to Christianity. One impact of this upheaval was the spread of Arabic-Islamic decorative bookbinding styles to Europe via Italy, where many Spanish Jewish people settled. Europeans eagerly adopted the sophisticated Arabic-Islamic decorative method of blind tooling (stamping designs into leather with heated tools) and gold tooling (adding gold leaf to the process), as can be seen in the display case opposite this one.

__

Qur’an

Unknown origin and date

Michael Abbott Collection

As a colony of the Netherlands from the 17th century to 1945, Indonesia had a ready supply of Dutch-made rag paper, but it also produced its own paper and cards using local materials. This Qur’an is written on dluwang, a traditional Indonesian paper made from tree bark. This type of paper is attractive to insects and susceptible (as all paper is) to damage in the humid climate of South-East Asia. Nevertheless, this well-read Qur’an’s penwork decorations in a variety of coloured inks remain vivid and beautiful.

__

Manuscript compendium of Islamic and Arabic texts

Indonesia, date unknown

Michael Abbott Collection

This manuscript is also written on the traditional Indonesian paper dluwang, made from tree bark. Its binding is made of layers of reused paper manuscript leaves, glued together and painted or stained brown to mimic leather. This cheap solution has lasted quite well, despite its fragility compared with a real leather binding.

__

Awamil (Arabic grammar) and other texts

Java, Indonesia, date unknown

Michael Abbott Collection

This binding demonstrates the resourcefulness of Indonesian bookbinders, and their use of local and cost-effective materials for repairs of heavily used books such as this. Its leather boards are not original, and they are bound in different leathers, each with tooled central motifs. Both the boards are missing sections, which have been infilled with woven rattan inserted under the remaining leather. The book’s spine is reinforced with a lining of dluwang, tree bark paper.

__

Abraham ORTELIUS

(1527–1598)

Indiae orientalis insvlarvmqve adiacientivm typvs (East Indies Islands and Adjacent Types)

Antorff, Abraham Ortelius, 1588

MAPS SB 401 A [1588?]

__

George SANDYS

(1578–1644)

A Paraphrase vpon the Divine Poems

London, [printed by John Legatt, sold] at the Bell in St. Pauls Church-yard [i.e. the shop of Andrew Hebb], 1638

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 146/6

European bookbinders learned the art of gold tooling from Islamic books entering Europe through Italian ports in the 16th century. However, blind tooling in Europe and Britain – that is, designs impressed on damp leather by heated metal tools but not filled in with gold leaf – remained very common as a cheaper way of decorating bindings. This volume features a contemporaneous binding in the style known as ‘Cambridge panel’, so-called for its popularity in that city. The geometric panels have been decorated economically with sprinkled and stamped ink.

__

John HAYWARD

(c. 1564–1627)

The First Part of the Life and Raigne of King Henrie the IIII . . .

London, by Iohn Wolfe, and are to be solde at his shop in Pope's Head Alley neere the Exchange, [1629]

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 144/15

This plain binding of mottled brown calf has a gold-tooled spine only. Decorating only the spine allowed the book’s owner to assemble an impressive bookshelf without the expense of gold tooling the front and back covers of every book. This volume contains a second text about the reign of Edward VI. Its spine label has fallen off, leaving only the blind-tooled impression of the words ‘HENRY IV / KY[NG] / EDWARD VI’. The horizontal and uneven nature of the text indicates an early date in the history of spine labels, which began around 1670 in Britain.

__

William DUGDALE

(1605–1686)

A Short View of the Late Troubles in England . . .

Oxford, printed at the Theater for Moses Pitt, 1681

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 136/9

This contemporary binding of full-gilt red morocco, with raised bands and gilt ornaments on its spine, was made by Thomas Dawson (active 1675–95). Dawson was a bookbinder in Cambridge, England. His son, also Thomas, succeeded him and became well known as a bookseller, publisher and binder. Since the foundation of its university in the early 13th century, Cambridge has provided a ready source of business for every trade involved in producing books.

__

Walter RALEIGH, author

(c. 1552–1618)

Alexander ROSS, scribe

(Dates unknown)

An Abridgment of ‘The Historie of the World’ Written by Sr. Walter Raleigh Kn[igh]t

Manuscript, c. 1650

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 162/6

This elaborate 18th-century gilt-embossed goatskin binding has had the crest of the Clan Stuart of Bute clumsily inserted at a later date, indicating its provenance as part of that family’s library during the 18th and 19th centuries. Sir Walter Raleigh’s world history was written during his imprisonment in the Tower of London, in 1603–16.

__

John WHITEFOOTE

(1610–1699)

Israēl anchithanēs. Deaths Alarum, or the Presage of Approaching Death: Given in a Funeral Sermon . . .

London, printed by W. Godbid, for Edward Dod, at the Gun in Ivy-lane, 1656

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 425/28

This style of blind-tooled black calf leather is known as a ‘sombre binding’. It was deemed appropriate for subject matter relating to death, such as this funeral sermon.

__

Cardanus RIDER

(Possible pseudonym of Richard Saunders, 1613–c. 1692)

Rider’s British Merlin: For the Year of Our Lord God 1766

London, printed by H. Woodfall for the Company of Stationers, 1765

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 612/22

This small-format almanac (a compilation of meteorological, astronomical and astrological information and advice on health and diet) would have been designed for the pocket. Its contemporary goatskin binding is in an elaborate but roughly executed gilt-tooled panelled style, with tin clasps.

__

Louis-Antoine DE CARACCIOLI

(1719–1803)

Le Livre de Quatre Couleurs

Aux Quatre-Éléments, De l’Imprimerie des Quatre-Saisons, 4444

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 612/19

This late 19th- or early 20th-century fine French goatskin binding has been designed to match the contents of the book, the text of which is printed in four colours (red, yellow, blue and green). Louis-Antoine de Caraccioli was a French poet and historian who published several different ‘colour books’, which are now much sought-after by collectors. The binding’s geometric design features four coloured inlays. The imprint (printed at the Four Elements by the Press of the Four Seasons in the year 4444) is, of course, false; it was really produced in Liège by Jean-François Bassompierre, in 1759 or 1760.

__

The Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments . . .

London, printed by Maties Printers, 1669

RAREEMM 231/10

This 17th-century ‘fanfare’ binding features ornate gilding and multi-coloured ‘on-laid’ leather mosaic insets. It has been identified as the work of brothers Stephen and Thomas Lewis, ‘at the Sign of the Bookbinders in Shoe Lane in the City of London’. Shoe Lane and nearby Fleet Street were a centre of bookbinding since at least the advent of the printing press, if not earlier. Wynkyn de Worde (William Caxton’s assistant and successor) worked from a shop near Shoe Lane; in 1534 he left a bequest to one of his binders, Nowell, who operated on that street.

__

The Bible

London, by the Deputies of Christopher Barker, printer to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie, 1595

John Emmerson Collection, RAREEMM 313/9

Christopher Barker, official printer of Elizabeth I, was the first in a long line of printers in the Barker family, which dominated the craft throughout the 17th century. Barker’s Bibles were prized, both well-produced and accurate. This elaborate gilt binding of black goatskin dates to the early 18th century and shows the ongoing value of the 100-year-old book inside it. It features motifs of scrolls, stars, crowns, flowers and other heraldic symbols, such as the saltire (a diagonal cross).

__

Specimens of marbled paper

Rare Books Collection

Marbling is a technique that originated in Central Asia in at least the 15th century. It creates decorative patterns on paper that resemble the natural swirls of colour in the type of limestone known as marble. Coloured inks are added to a shallow basin of a mixture known as ‘size’, which contains additives that makes the inks float on the surface. Patterns are formed by manipulating the surface. The paper is then applied to capture a print of the resulting design.

__

100 Years of Surrealism: Beyond the Mind

. . . psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express – verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner – the actual functioning of thought.
– André Breton

The word ‘surrealist’ (beyond reality) was first described by French avant-garde poet and writer Guillaume Apollinaire in 1917. Seven years later in his Rue Fontaine flat, French Poet André Breton hand wrote a 21-page manuscript titled the ‘Manifeste du surréalisme’ (Surrealist manifesto).

Like the anti-establishment platform of the Dada movement, Surrealism was characterised by its disillusionment with Western logic and reason. Where Dada challenged convention, Surrealism was bound to psychoanalytical theories, such as Freud’s free association (that is, whatever comes to mind).

Techniques such as automatic writing and drawing were practised to unlock the unconscious and explore the dream world. Surrealism influenced numerous famous artists and writers, such as Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Leonora Carrington, Max Ernst, Frida Kahlo and Pablo Picasso.

__

Paul ÉLUARD

(1895–1952)

Joan Miró: Bois gravés pour un poème de Paul Éluard (Joan Miró: Wood Engravings for a Poem by Paul Éluard)

Paris, Berggruen & Cie., 1958

RARES 702.81 M678B

__

Édouard L.T. MESENS

(1903–1971)

Troisième front, poèmes de guerre, survi de pièces détachées (The Third Front, Poems of War, Surviving in Detached Pieces)

[London], London Gallery Editions, 1944

RARES 841.91 M56T

As a writer, artist and art dealer, Édouard Mesens brought Dadism and Surrealism to the Belgian market. Having established relationships with prominent surrealist artists, he organised Belgium’s first exhibitions of this work, Nu dans L’Art Vivant and Exposition Minotaure, in 1934. The book on display is one of only five publications Mesens produced. His illustrations accompany a pastiche of parallel text in French and English, using drawings and steel engraving to create a negativised collage on both sides of the book.

__

Anaïs NIN

(1903–1977)

The House of Incest

Paris, Siana Editions, 1936

Acquired with the generous support of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, Rare Books Collection

Predominantly a diarist and essayist, Anaïs Nin wrote The House of Incest as her first work of fiction. It is considered a piece of surrealist prose due to the exploration of the subconscious through dreams. Nin argued that the term ‘incest’ should be considered a metaphor for the intensity of loving oneself.

__

André BRETON

(1896–1966)

Cahiers G.L.M., no. 7

Paris, G.L.M., September 1938

RARES 840.9 C1194G

To achieve liberation of the mind, surrealist artists often incorporated automatic drawing or writing to unlock their unconscious minds. Intrigued by hidden psychological and creative messages in the dream world, they would use a stream of consciousness to interpret and respond to their dreams. The issue of the journal Cahiers G.L.M. on display dedicates itself to the outcomes of these dreams.

__

André BRETON

(1896–1966)

Les Manifestes du surréalisme (The Manifestos of Surrealism)

Paris, Sagittaire, 1947

RARES 709.040632 B7561M

The term ‘surrealist’ (beyond reality) was first coined by avant-garde French poet Guillaume Apollinaire in 1917. In October 1924, Yvon Goll and André Breton, representing two rival factions within the Surrealism movement, published separate manifestos on the subject. Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto remains the seminal text of the movement’s aspirations, defining Surrealism as a ‘Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and more preoccupation’. A second edition was published in 1929, and a supplementary commentary on the necessity for a third manifesto was released in 1942.

__

André BRETON, compiler

(1896–1966)

Max ERNST, illustrator

(1891–1976)

The International Surrealist Exhibition

London, New Burlington Galleries, Women’s Printing Society, 1936

RAREP 709.04063 IN821 (1936)

In 1936, the International Surrealist Exhibition, the first of its kind, was held in London’s New Burlington Galleries. Although few in number compared with the French movement, British surrealists were flourishing during the 1930s. More than 30,000 visitors poured into the exhibition to view works by notable artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Dalí, Miró, Picasso and Man Ray. Not all of the 392 surrealist paintings promised for the exhibition made it past customs; they were seized on grounds of indecency.

__

Julien GRACQ, author

(1910–2007)

Hans BELLMER, illustrator

(1902–1975)

André Breton: Aspects de l’écrivain (André Breton: Aspects of the Writer)

Paris, José Corti, 1948

Wallace Kirsop Collection, RAREWK 841.912 B7561G (1948)

__

Salvador, DALÍ, author

(1904–1989)

John Peter MOORE, translator

(1919–2005)

Les dîners de Gala (Gala Dinners)

New York, Felicie, [1973]

RARESF 641.5944 D159L

Eugène GUILLEVIC

(1907–1997)

Fractures

[Paris], Les Éditions de Minuit, [1947]

Wallace Kirsop Collection, RAREWK 841.91 G9459F (1947)

__

Julien LEVY

(1906–1981)

Surrealism

New York, The Black Sun Press, 1936

RARES 709.04063 L57S (1936)

Julien Levy was the owner of New York’s esteemed Julien Levy Gallery. He was influential in popularising Surrealism and avant-garde in America. Surrealism is a survey of the movement in the interwar period and remains a definitive reference text.

__

Anarcho Surrealist Insurrectionary Feminist Collective (AS IF)

(Active 1973)

Anarcho Surrealist Insurrectionary Feminists

Collingwood, AS IF, 1973

RARELTP 301.41205 AN1

Although Australia’s contribution to the Surrealism movement was small, the core principles of Surrealism have permeated the culture here for decades. Inspired by the American women’s liberation group WITCH (Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell), Margot Nash partnered with Robin Laurie in Melbourne, in 1973, to form AS IF. The collective’s manifesto boldly states:

We desire the destruction of the existing capitalist, sexist, racist, ageist, class divided society . . . [and] challenge the narrow focus of emotions and thoughts implanted in us by the concepts ‘man’ and ‘woman’.

__

Max Ernst

German artist Max Ernst was a leading member of the 20th-century Dada and Surrealism movements. He worked with various forms of visual art, including painting, printmaking, film, frottage, collage and, towards the end of his career, sculpture.

His early dadaist works reflect the mood of a post–World War I Germany and a burgeoning anti-establishment sentiment. In 1922, Ernst moved to Paris, where he became integral to the Surrealism movement. He demonstrated proficiency in all aspects of his practice, but collage became his most enduring medium. Carefully excising old steel-engraved illustrations from French journals, Ernst reimagined these, reassembling them into striking, playful narratives that reflected the dreamlike subconscious associated with surrealist thought.

Ernst fled to New York after the outbreak of World War II, marrying surrealist painter Dorothea Tanning in 1946. The pair moved to Sedona, Arizona, where they pioneered a new colony for artists. Ernst passed away in Paris on 1 April 1976.

__

Lewis CARROLL, author

(1832–1898)

Max ERNST, illustrator

(1891–1976)

Logique sans peine (Mathematical Logic Primer)

Paris, Hermann, [1966]

RARES 511.3 C3191L (1966)

__

José CORTI, author

(1895–1984)

Max ERNST, illustrator

(1891–1976)

Les livres surrealists (Surrealist Books)

Paris, Librairie José Corti, [1931]

Wallace Kirsop Collection, RAREWK 709.04063016 J772L (1931)

__

Max ERNST

(1891–1976)

Une semaine de bonté (A Week of Kindness), vol. 4

Paris, J. Bucher, 1934

RARESF 702.81ER6S

Une semaine de bonté is Max Ernst’s most famous collage novel. Published in a limited edition of 816 copies in five instalments, each instalment is divided into seven sections named for the days of the week. The images are composed of cut-up, reconfigured pictures taken from Victorian encyclopaedias and novels. Ernst’s famous pictorial alter ego – the bird Loplop – is narrator and guide through this disturbing world. Highly experimental, Ernst’s work anticipated later graphic novels and artists’ books.

__

Max ERNST

(1891–1976)

Une semaine de bonté (A Week of Kindness), vols 3, 5

RARESF 702.81ER6S

__

Max ERNST

(1891–1976)

Exhibition prints from Une semaine de bonté (A Week of Kindness), vols 1, 2

Paris, J. Bucher, 1934

RARESF 702.81ER6S

__

Redfoxpress

Operating from tiny, whitewashed buildings on the remote island of Achill, off the western coast of Ireland, Redfoxpress embraces the unconventional and unexpected, producing some of the most innovative and exciting artists’ books today.

Belgian artist Francis Van Maele founded Redfoxpress in 2000. He moved to Ireland in 2002 to concentrate solely on creating and publishing artists’ books. In 2005, Van Maele met Korean artist Antic-Ham at the Seoul Book Fair, with whom he collaborates under the name Franticham. They produce visual poetry, collages, prints, multiples and objects in the tradition of Dada and Fluxus.

__

Francis VAN MAELE

(Born 1947)

ANTIC-HAM

(Born 1974)

Paris metro affiches (Paris Metro Posters)

Achill Island, Ireland, Redfoxpress, 2012

RARESEF 702.81 F85P

This limited-edition publication by Franticham transforms personally salvaged posters from the Parisian metro system into silk-screen-prints and collages. Franticham printed the book on paper made from cattle-feed sacks bought at the Bangsan Sijang printer market in Seoul. The screen-printing and assembling took place at Redfoxpress on Achill Island, off the coast of Ireland. Bound in a screen-printed tarpaulin cover sourced from a broken-down truck, the Library’s signed edition of this remarkable artists’ book is number 19 of an edition of 69.

__

Francis VAN MAELE

(Born 1947)

ANTIC-HAM

(Born 1974)

1969

Achill Island, Ireland, Redfoxpress, 2008

RARESEF 702.81 F85N

Inspired by the Fluxus movement of the 1960s, Franticham’s artists’ book 1969 continues the tradition of experimental art through screen-printing, typography and materiality. The distinctive blue binding has been repurposed from South Korean cattle-feed sacks and the screen-prints on disposable products such as wrapping paper and foil. The work explores popular and political culture of the 1960s, including the civil rights movement and advertising campaigns.

__

Max ERNST

(1891–1976)

Exhibition prints from Une semaine de bonté (A Week of Kindness), vols 1, 2

Paris, J. Bucher, 1934

RARESF 702.81ER6S

__

Dmitry BABENKO, artist

(Born 1970)

Visual Flux, no. 4

[Achill Island], Ireland, Redfoxpress, 2013

RARESEF 702.81 V82R (4)

Jürgen OLBRICH, artist

(Born 1955)

Visual Flux, no. 5

[Achill Island], Ireland, Redfoxpress, 2016

RARESEF 702.81 V82R (5)

Allan BEALY, artist

(Born 1951)

Visual Flux, no. 5

[Achill Island], Ireland, Redfoxpress, 2016

RARESEF 702.81 V82R (5)

__

C’est mon dada (It’s My Hobby)

Achill Island, Ireland, Redfoxpress, 2010–12

RARES 702.81 R24C

In this series, Redfoxpress pays homage to the traditions of the 20th-century avant-garde art movements of Dada and Fluxus. These small, hand-made artists’ books feature the experimental, concrete and visual poetry of authors from around the world. The series title comes from a French saying, meaning ‘my favourite thing’. The word ‘Dada’ means hobbyhorse in French children’s slang, which may have influenced the naming of the Dada movement, though no definitive origin is known.

__

Francis VAN MAELE

(Born 1947)

ANTIC-HAM

(Born 1974)

Tokyo Umbrella

[Achill Island, Ireland], RedfoxPress, [2008]

RARESF 702.81 F85T

Tokyo Umbrella was awarded the Birgit Skiold Memorial Trust Award at the London Art Book Fair in 2009. It blends traditional techniques of East Asian paper and bookbinding with Western graphic design and screen-printing influences.

__

Franticham’s Assembling Box, no. 16

Achill Island, Ireland, Redfoxpress, 2011–12

RARES 702.81 F85

Each box in the series Franticham’s Assembling Box includes contributions from 23 invited international artists. Their contributions are in the forms of visual poetry, collage, prints, multiples and objects.

__

Hartmut ANDRYCZUK, artist

(Born 1957)

Visual Flux, no. 4

[Achill Island], Ireland, Redfoxpress, 2013

RARESEF 702.81 V82R (4)

Scott HELMES, artist

(Born 1945)

Visual Flux, no. 2

[Achill Island], Ireland, Redfoxpress, 2011

RARESEF 702.81 V82R (2)

Pierre GARNIER, artist

(1928–2014)

Visual Flux, no. 2

[Achill Island], Ireland, Redfoxpress, 2011

RARESEF 702.81 V82R (2)

__

Creativity in a Time of Crisis

Throughout history, artists have responded to moments of significant crisis. From the horrors of war to the uncertainty of political upheaval, artists and writers across the world play a critical role in transforming trauma into powerful expressions of hope and resilience. Often, the true nature and significance of creative output during these periods are not obvious until many years later.

The collection items on display share the personal and universal experiences of Australians during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Many of the works on display were collected in 2020, over 21 weeks as part of the Library’s Memory Bank Project.

Throughout the world, formal academic research is being undertaken on the impact that collective isolation played in creative output.

__

Janita RYAN

(Birth date unknown)

Snappy Snacks: Binge Eating Whilst Binge Watching. Lockdown 6

[Victoria], self-published, 2021

Rare Books Collection

Diba SHOKOOHI

(Birth date unknown)

On the Road to REVIVAL

[Victoria], self-published, 2021

Donated through the Memory Bank Project, Rare Books Collection

__

John RYRIE

(Born 1961)

Strangers on a Train

[Melbourne, Chrysalis Gallery, 2021]

RARELT 702.81 R99S

Carole RIGLER

(Birth date unknown)

Mask and bag

Textile embroidery

Donated through the Memory Bank Project, Realia Collection

__

Meredith MACLEOD

(Birth date unknown)

Midnight in Iso (ii)

[Northgate, Brisbane], self-published, [2020]

RARELT 702.81 M225M/2 (2020)

Kathleen NEWMAN

(Birth date unknown)

Covid journal

[Victoria], self-published, 2020

Donated through the Memory Bank Project, Manuscripts Collection

__

Tamara SEARLE

(Birth date unknown)

Even the Score: Experiments in Connection During Covid

[Australia], self-published, [2020]

Rare Books Collection

Luke

(Birth date unknown)

YOU: First Gig After Lockdown

[Victoria], self-published, [2020]

Rare Books Collection

Young Disability Advocacy Service

Covid Comic Collectables, nos 3 to 5

[Victoria], self-published, date unknown

Rare Books Collection

__

Glenda ORR

(Birth date unknown)

Measured Distancing X&O Games

[Victoria], self-published, 2021

Rare Books Collection

__

Suzanne PHOENIX

(Born 1971)

Digital print from Isolation Portraits: Upper Yarra

Warburton, Vic., Suzanne Phoenix, 2020

Pictures Collection

__

George MIFSUD

(Birth date unknown)

Photograph of toilet paper shelves in unknown supermarket

Exhibition print from digital file

Donated through the Memory Bank Project, MS 16313

Dianna CARLEN

(Birth date unknown)

Care for all

Exhibition print from digital file

Donated through the Memory Bank Project, MS 16313

__

Jenelle COLSTON-ING

(Birth date unknown)

Thanking Healthcare Workers 2021

Exhibition print from digital file

H2024.83/1

Jo HIGGINSON

(Birth date unknown)

Electric Dreams – the Life of an Online Teacher! 2020

Exhibition print from digital file

Donated through the Memory Bank Project, MS 16313

__

Deanna HITTI

(Born c. 1975)

Artbook Volume Arba’ah

Richmond, Vic., Rambunctious Press, 2016

RARELTEF 702.81 H63AB

Deanna Hitti explores several printmaking processes. The prints in this book are cyanotypes, created through a photographic process that produces images composed of the pigment Prussian blue, a colour that falls within the cyan area of the colour spectrum. Invented by English scientist Sir John Herschel in 1842, cyanotypes proved a cheap method for reproducing diagrams and notes – hence the term ‘blueprints’. Cyanotypes have unique regenerative properties: they fade with light exposure but regain their colour when returned to a dark environment.

__

Deanna HITTI

(Born c. 1975)

The Assimilated Museum

Richmond, Vic., Rambunctious Press, 2015

RARELTEF 702.81 H63AM

__

Deanna HITTI

(Born c. 1975)

[Arabic type]

Richmond, Vic., Rambunctious Press, 2014

RARELTEF 702.81 H63A

Award-winning artist Deanna Hitti has been a professional printmaker for more than 14 years, and she established Rambunctious Press in 2007. A child of Lebanese immigrants, she explores cultural diversity in Australia and issues of identity, particularly the impact of growing up inside contrasting cultures. Hitti considers, through her practice, how ‘the historical context of Western notions of the East, characterized by notions of exoticism, romanticism and orientalism, act as a kind of lens to investigate contemporary representations of the Middle East’.

__

Deanna HITTI

(Born c. 1975)

Two proof prints from The Assimilated Museum

Richmond, Vic., Rambunctious Press, 2015

RARELTEF 702.81 H63AM

__

Colour Theories

The question of how the human eye perceives the world and the relationship of this perception to consciousness has preoccupied philosophers, artists and scientists from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle onwards. The nature of colour – whether it is subjective or intrinsic, or somewhere in between – is a significant part of this history. In our sensory perception, colours also take on a psychological and emotional dimension.

This display explores the history of colour theory as represented in the Rare Books Collection, including the first work of colour theory published by a woman. Mary Gartside’s gorgeously hand-illustrated An Essay on a New Theory of Colours (1808) was acquired in 2022 through the Women Writers Fund, with support from the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust.

__

Leonardo DA VINCI, author

(1452–1519)

Nicolas POUSSIN, artist, (after Leonardo)

(1594–1665)

Traitté de la peinture de Leonard de Vinci (Treatise on Painting)

Paris, Jacques Langlois, 1651

RARESF 751 V74T

This is a copy of the first printed edition of da Vinci’s manuscripts on painting and includes his thinking on colour. Influenced by Aristotle’s belief that all colour is contained within black and white, Leonardo discussed colour within his principles of light and shade, arguing for the relativity of colours in relation to each other and to light levels.

__

Sir Isaac NEWTON

(1642–1727)

Opticks, or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light

London, S. Smith and B. Walford, printers to the Royal Society, 1704

RARES 535 N48OP

Isaac Newton’s work on gravity, calculus and optics was crucial in the development of science. This book sets out his investigations of optics, mostly carried out in the 1670s and 1680s. He demonstrated that white light, when passed through a prism, is split into different colours. He also explained refraction and invented the reflecting telescope. Unusually, the work is mostly written in English rather than the Latin commonly used for scientific works at the time. The Library’s copy was purchased in 1947 from Robert Bedford, a South Australian scientist.

__

René DESCARTES

(1596–1650)

Opera philosophica (Philosophical Works)

Amsterdam, Danielem Elsevirium, 1677

RARES 195 D45OP

René Descartes, a key figure in the history of philosophy, sought to establish how knowledge can be validated independently of the senses. Popularly, he is best remembered for his observation Cogito, ergo sum – I think, therefore I exist – which first appeared in his text Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One’s Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences (1637). Also first published in that work was his essay ‘Dioptrics’, which examined the properties of light and human perception of the physical world.

__

Mary GARTSIDE, author and artist

(Dates unknown)

An Essay on a New Theory of Colours, and on Composition in General; Illustrated by Coloured Blots [in water colour] Shewing the Application of the Theory . . . 

London, T. Gardiner, Princes-Street, Cavendish-Square, W. Miller, Albemarle-Street, and I. and A. Arch, Cornhill, 1808

Acquired with the generous support of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, RARES 701.85 G198E (1808)

Mary Gartside, a watercolour teacher and botanical artist, was the first woman to publish on colour theory. In this work, which is illustrated by unique hand-painted ‘coloured blots’, Gartside demonstrates a sophisticated intellectual and aesthetic understanding of ‘the effect of colour combinations, the significance of light and shade in relation to tints, and the eye of the beholder as the centre and origin of colour perception’.

__

David Ramsay HAY

(1798–1866)

A Nomenclature of Colours: Applicable to the Arts and Natural Sciences, to Manufactures, and Other Purposes of General Utility

Edinburgh, W. Blackwood & Sons, 1846

RARES 535.6 H32

The 19th century saw an industrial boom driven by technological advances. Many new chemical-based pigments were invented, as was the printing technique of lithography. Pioneered by Alois Senefelder in the early 19th century, lithography involves a stone matrix drawn on with oil-based crayons or ink, affixed by a chemical reaction, which can then be printed in large numbers. Chromolithography soon followed, allowing for bright and lasting colours to be printed cheaply. Many books about this new world of colour were published throughout the century.

__

Michel Eugène CHEVREUL, author

(1786–1889)

Charles MARTEL, translator

(Dates unknown)

The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colours, and their Applications to the Arts: Including Painting, Interior Decoration, Tapestries, Carpets, Mosaics, Coloured Glazing, Paper-Staining, Calico Printing, Letterpress Printing, Map-Colouring, Dress, Landscape and Flower Gardening

London, Henry G. Bohn, 1860

A 701.8 C42 (1860)

__

Josef ALBERS

(1888–1976)

Prints from Interaction of Color

New Haven, Conn., Yale University Press, 1963

RARESF 752 AL1I

German-American Josef Albers was one of the most influential 20th-century artists and educators. Joining the Bauhaus art school to teach stained glass in 1922, he was also a trained printmaker and painter. In 1963, Albers published an iconic illustrated theoretical work (shown here in facsimile), in which he argued that colour perception is relational and subjective. Drawing a comparison with music – hearing sounds versus perceiving harmony – Albers argued that the viewer must ‘feel’ as well see relationships between colours.

__

Acknowledgements

State Library Victoria is grateful to the following organisations and individuals for their involvement, assistance and advice in the realisation of this exhibition.

The estate of Gertrude Stein, through literary executor Mr Stanford Gann, Jr of Levin & Gann, P.A., kindly granted permission to reproduce the extract from Gertrude Stein’s Narration: Lecture 4 (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1935).

The Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne, generously loaned a Torah scroll for display.

State Library Victoria acknowledges the copyright owners who have given their kind permission to reproduce material. The library continues in its endeavours to trace copyright owners, and some items have been reproduced here in good faith.

The library would be pleased to hear from copyright owners not yet contacted.

Thanks also to all contractors and past and present staff of State Library Victoria who have been involved in this project.

__