Dunedin Public Libraries News & Reviews Blog

The latest Reed Gallery exhibition, Charting the Peaceful Sea: Maps of the Pacific, 1642-1846, has been picked up by a rare books website.

Rare Books has highlighted an article written in the Otago Daily Times online edition reviewing our latest exhibition.

A short preview of the exhibition can be found on our YouTube channel.

If you have not come in yet - do so soon.

• Charting the Peaceful Sea: Maps of the Pacific, 1642-1846,
• Until 31st August 2008
• Reed Gallery
• Floor 3
• City Library
• Free Event

The latest Reed Gallery exhibition, Charting the Peaceful Sea: Maps of the Pacific, 1642-1846, highlights some of the Heritage Collections’ holdings documenting European exploration of the Pacific region from the Bering Strait in the north to the Antarctic coast in the south.

This exhibition focuses on the expansion in Pacific exploration by Holland, France, England and later the United States, that occurred from the seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century.

The first map to show any portion of New Zealand was drawn by Able Tasman in 1642, a facsimile of which, from a nineteenth-century edition of Tasman’s journals, is shown in the exhibition.

The earliest British map on display is from the account of Sir John Narborough’s voyage to the Pacific in 1670-71, written by Tancred Robinson and published in 1694.

John Harris’s Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca…(1744) exhibits a map of the world drawn by London cartographer Emanuel Bowen. This map includes the circumnavigations of Ferdinand Magellan, Sir Francis Drake and George Anson, and applies the name ‘New Zeeland’ to label the land discovered by Tasman in 1642.

By far the most well-known and accomplished of the eighteenth-century explorers was Captain James Cook, who made three separate voyages to the Pacific in 1768-71, 1772-75 and 1776-79. First and early editions of Cook’s charts and maps form the core of this exhibition.

The exhibition concludes with the mid-nineteenth-century Antarctic explorations of the United States and Great Britain. On exhibit is a colour map produced by the U.S. Exploring Expedition from the early 1840s.

For a quick overview of the exhibit be sure to watch our YouTube clip on the subject.

• Charting the Peaceful Sea: Maps of the Pacific, 1642-1846,
• Until 31st August 2008
• Reed Gallery
• Floor 3
• City Library
• Free Event

This short video walk around shows you some of the very cool exhibits on display at Dunedin Public Libraries Reed Gallery.

The gallery is located on the 3rd floor of Dunedin City Library and run by our Heritage Collections staff.

This is a free exhibition on until August 31st 2008 so do come along and have a look at what’s on offer.

What was it like to work with A H Reed as a donor? How were rare books and manuscripts selected and purchased before the dawn of the Internet?

Former Dunedin City and National Librarian Dr Mary Ronnie will address these topics and more as she speaks about her experiences working with A H Reed during the 1960s and early 1970s.

This talk is in connection with the latest Reed Gallery exhibition The Happy Wanderer: Walking Around New Zealand with A H Reed.

• Saturday 12 April 2.00pm
  
• Dunningham Suite
  
• 4th Floor
• Dunedin City Library
• Free Event

The Reed Gallery’s latest exhibition The Happy Wanderer: Walking Around New Zealand with A. H. Reed tracks the publisher, author and educationalist’s journeys across the length and breadth of the country that turned him into a national folk hero.

Reed’s treks have strong connections to his publishing practice. Both are based on capturing vernacular “kiwi” experiences: the beauty and wonder of the New Zealand landscape, communing with nature and God, seeking a personal experience of the land, collecting the stories of everyday people, understanding local history, and directing its future.

The Happy Wanderer exhibition combines an array of media into one visual treat. The material on exhibit include: first editions of Reed’s walking books, some inscribed by the author; original photographs, recently discovered typed drafts and personal letters, and an excerpt from an amateur film showing Reed on a walking tour ca 1961. The backpack Reed wore and the suitcase he carried on his treks are also exhibited.

Supplementary material on display include works published by Reed Publishing, such as artist Peter McIntyre’s New Zealand Landscapes (1975) and a selection of the company’s ‘day walks’ series, which carry on A. H. Reed’s tradition of getting out of the car and exploring New Zealand’s natural beauty on foot.

The display is a National Library Gallery touring exhibition, and was part of the exhibition Good Books Make Good Citizens: 100 years of Reed Publishing, held at the National Library Gallery, Wellington, in 2007.

• 22 February – 18 May 2008
• Monday to Friday 9.30am to 8.00pm
• Saturday and Sunday 11.00am to 4.00pm
• Reed Gallery, Floor 3
• Dunedin City Library
• Free Event

Only one week left to view our latest Reed Gallery exhibition which closes on Sunday 3 February 2008.

From a beautiful, hand-illustrated book from fifteenth-century France and the stunning engravings of Gustave Dore to a first edition of Capt. Cook’s voyage to the South Pole and a rare manuscript penned by Charles Dickens this is a Choice! exhibition indeed. Come discover some of the rare books and manuscripts from the Heritage Collections.

If you have not seen this exhibition yet do visit the 3rd floor of the City Library and take a look before it’s too late!

• Last Day - Sunday 3 February 2008
• Reed Gallery
• 3rd Floor
• Dunedin City Library

The official opening of the latest Reed Gallery exhibition - Choice! A Sackful of Treasures was held during the evening of Thursday 29 November.

A good sized crowd attended to hear Rare Books Librarian Anthony Tedeschi speak about the many wonderful books and manuscripts that comprise the current display.

A highlight for Anthony was a first edition of Capt. Bligh’s narrative of the mutiny on the Bounty, with handwritten notes by Bligh (1790).See this free 3rd floor display for yourself at the City Library which runs until the 3rd of February 2008.

From a beautiful, hand-illustrated book from fifteenth-century France and the stunning engravings of Gustave Dore to a first edition of Capt. Cook’s voyage to the South Pole and a rare manuscript penned by Charles Dickens this is a Choice! exhibition indeed. Come discover some of the rare books and manuscripts from the Heritage Collections.

• Friday 30 November 2007 – Sunday 3 February 2008
• Reed Gallery
• 3rd Floor
• Dunedin City Library
• Free Event
  

The Reed Gallery is proud to present ‘The Art and Craft of Private Press Books’, offering an overview of the private press books held by the Heritage Collections. This exhibition will give visitors the chance to see books that are not only beautifully crafted, but many deemed works of art in their own right. Items being exhibited range in date from the 1892 edition of de Voragine’s The Golden Legend, printed by William Morris, considered by many to be the private press movement’s founding figure, to a delightfully intriguing edition of Lewis Carroll’s Hunting of the Snark printed at the University of Otago’s Otaku Press in 2006.

It’s been a busy time in our Heritage department this week. Today a second new Exhibition: Leadership, Loyalty, Legend: Shackleton’s Men, opens in the Reed Gallery.

A hundred years ago, Antarctic exploration was hot news. Who would win the race to the South Pole? Which explorers would lay claim to the unmapped continent, all in the name of science or fame? Who could battle the worst conditions on earth, and survive to tell the tale?

Take a look at the Shackleton publicity machine, see Shackleton as a writer and editor, and find some lessons for aspiring leaders today. Read More CLICK HERE

13 April – 15 July 2007
9.30 am to 8 pm Monday to Friday
11 am to 4 pm Saturday and Sunday
Reed Gallery
Floor 3, Dunedin City Library
230 Moray Place, Dunedin
Free