Mackelvie’s pattern books – a design story on display
The Atrium display in the Central Library Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero (6 November 2024 to 13 January 2025) features six exceptional works ranging from outsize folios to a modest volume, similar that seen in the portrait of James Tannock Mackelvie painted at his home in Hyeres, France in 1884, a year before his death. Image: James Tannock Mackelvie by George Halkett, 1884. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Mackelvie Collction M1885/1/32. Following a 2024 stocktake and Heritage Cataloguer Ian Snowdon’s cataloguing enhancements for the Mackelvie Collection there are new opportunities to showcase aspects of the extraordinary Victorian library the philanthropist and collector James Mackelvie built for us. The recent talk ‘Ex Libris JT Mackelvie’ was an opportunity to showcase books from the Mackelvie Collection. The visually arresting pattern books are a good way to sample the collection. In the mid-19th century colour lithography was being developed and there was a growing an awareness of art pr