Discovering Dora Carrington in Don’s books
Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections gained an important collection in 2024 with the gift of 183 titles collected by the late Professor Emeritus Donal Ian Brice Smith (Don). The collection of early modern books published before 1801 comprises several hundred volumes. The collection is now housed in archival boxes, each with a label which features Don’s signature, to show the provenance from the library of Professor Smith.
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| Image: Don’s signature on the fly leaf of ‘An account of popery and arbitrary government in England’ 1677 MARV, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. |
Every title brings new possibilities. To honour this significant collection Auckland Libraries has invited academics from across the country to talk about books in this collection. Click here for the details of the symposium on 8 November 2025.
Rare Book Librarians Jane Wild and Renee Orr have enjoyed looking at the collection and note that books of this age all have stories to tell in terms of their ownership (provenance) and condition. Many have annotations from former owners which make each copy unique. A stamp-sized bookplate designed by the Bloomsbury artist Dora Carrington features in Don’s copy of the seventeenth century book, ‘The Memoires of Sir James Melvil’.
‘The memoires of Sir James Melvil of Hal-Hill : containing an impartial account of the most remarkable affairs of state during the last age, not mention'd by other historians : more particularly relating to the kingdoms of England and Scotland, under the reigns of Queen Elizabeth, Mary, Queen of Scots, and King James : in all which transactions the author was personally and publickly concern'd / now published from the original manuscript by George Scott, Gent.’
Sir James Melville (1535-1617) was a Scottish diplomat and memoir writer. He went to France in 1549 and served as page to Mary Queen of Scots. His memoir includes an account of meeting Elizabeth I in 1564. Last century this copy was in the library of the famous Bloomsbury intellectual Lytton Strachey who wrote many biographies and critical works including Eminent Victorians (1918). Strachey, was credited for pioneering a new era of biographical writing. The ‘Epistle to the Reader’ must have piqued his interest.
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| Image: ‘The Epistle to the Reader’ from ‘The Memoires of James Melvil’ – Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, 1683 MELV. |
The inside front cover features a small (3 cm x 4 cm) but distinctive bookplate made for him by his longtime friend and companion, the artist Dora Carrington (1893-1932). Carrington designed a number of bookplates for Strachey, as well as painting his portrait and decorating his rooms. The bookplates included ‘Cynical Age and Youth’ and ‘Chiron and a Pupil’ which show Lytton’s significant role in her life. Carrington also produced book covers and illustrations using lino, wood and even potato cuts which feature in Omega Workshops titles and Hogarth Press publications. When Strachey died on 21 January 1932 Carrington attempted suicide. She died just weeks later on 11 March 1932.
Her journal entry for 20 March 1931 makes the poignant observation:
“as I stuck the book plates in with Lytton I suddenly thought of Sotheby’s and the book plates in some books I had looked at, when Lytton was bidding for a book and I thought: These books will be looked at by those gloomy faced book sellers and buyers. And suddenly a premonition of a day when these labels will be no longer [be] in this library came over me. I longed to ask Lytton not to stick in any more.”
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| Image: Inside cover Dora Carrington bookplate for Lytton Strachey, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, 1683 MELV. |
After Strachey’s death in 1932 some of his library went his lover Roger Senhouse, whose bookplate also appears at the top of the page. In 1935 Senhouse became the co-owner of the publishing house Secker & Warburg, with Fredric Warburg. His bookplate is held in the William and Mary Law Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections. Senhouse died in 1970 when Don Smith was actively building his library.
The inside front cover also features a book plate for the library at Stormont Castle complete with shelf reference. This plate refers to the Cleland Family with their heraldic crest, ‘For Sport’. The Cleland’s left the castle in 1893. The site was taken over to house the Northern Ireland Executive in 1921. This might have provided the opportunity for Strachey to add it to his library.
It is interesting to see how the seventeenth century historical memoir appealed to the twentieth century intellectual Lytton Strachey. The three bookplates give an insight into the life of this copy which then travelled to New Zealand for the working library of the Auckland-based English Literature professor Don Smith. In the Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections this rare work by James Melvil of Hal-Hill is now available for research along with the rest of the library built by Professor Smith.
There are discoveries in every volume. The library invites researchers to explore the collection and the related holdings of pre-1801 books in Heritage Collections.
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| Image: Inside cover with three bookplates in 'The Memories of Sir James Melvil' Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, 1683 MELV. |
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