Five hundred years of books, a collector and a library

Image: The Don Smith Symposium panel – Mark Houlahan, Jack Ross and Shef Rogers (seated) with panel chair Sophie Tomlinson.

Emeritus Professor Don Smith (1934-2023) and his wife Jill first visited the library in 2018 to assess the Heritage Collections holdings and the synergy of the early modern titles in Don’s working library. Don had taught English literature at the University of Auckland and was seeking a suitable research library in Auckland for the substantial library he had built during his career in the United Kingdom, North America and New Zealand. 

Don was born and educated in Auckland, at Auckland Grammar School and the University of Auckland, before his post-graduate study at Merton College Oxford. His doctoral thesis ‘An edition of The rehearsal transpos’d by Andrew Marvell, with introduction and commentary’ (1963) is now represented in the Heritage Collections as a monograph published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford (1971) alongside his early pre-1801 editions of Marvell and other writers including Edmund Spenser, Alexander Pope and John Milton.

Image: Don’s signature in Marvell’s ‘An account of popery and arbitrary government in England’.  Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, MARV 1677.

In addition to his academic career Don is remembered as a middle-distance runner. He reached the quarter final of the 800-metre race at the 1960 summer Olympics.

Don and Jill Smith’s donation of over 200 pre-1801 books is a landmark event for our Heritage Collections. The gift in 2024 was the result of visits over 6 years for the rare book librarians, then Georgia Prince and Andrew Henry to see the library in situ, and for Don and Jill to compare the holdings in the Heritage Collections. The extensive Heritage Collections holding allowed his working library of titles such as Ariosto’s ‘Orlando Furioso’ (1634) to sit alongside an edition printed in Venice in 1568 and another vellum bound copy from 1587.

Both these sixteenth century copies were donated to the Auckland Free Public Library in the 19th century by Sir George Grey. Grey also donated an English edition (5 v.) published in 1799, as did a Mrs Wynyard in 1958. These copies now sit alongside another 5 volume Italian edition printed in Venice in 1799 and accessioned by the library in 1932.

Orlando Furioso became the focus for Dr Jack Ross, one of the scholars at the first Don Smith Symposium in 2024. The Symposium provided an excellent opportunity to celebrate the Don Smith Collection and to thank Jill Smith in person. The Symposium was held on 8 November 2025 as part of the library’s ‘Tāmaki Untold’ series. All three speakers were recorded to create podcasts and research content about the collection. The Symposium was supported by the Auckland Library Heritage Trust.

Image: Poster of the Don Smith Symposium at Central City Library 

You can listen to the speakers below.

Ngā Pātaka Kōrero - Auckland Libraries · The Don Smith Symposium - Orlando Furioso with Dr Jack Ross

Jack described the remarkable moonscape scene in Ariosto’s epic:

“These include Astolfo's famous journey to the Moon in search of Orlando's lost wits. Assisted by John the Evangelist, who lends him Elijah's fiery chariot for the purpose, Astolfo is astonished to see that the Moon, far from being the perfect, crystalline sphere described by contemporary cosmology, is in fact a kind of rubbish heap for everything lost or mislaid on Earth. He’s nevertheless successful in locating the bottle the mad knight’s wits have been stored in, and manages to induce him to inhale them, thus restoring his equilibrium" quote take from Mairangi blogspot by Jack Ross.

Image: Sir John Harrington: Orlando Furioso in Heroical Verse (1634). Auckland Libraries Heritage collections, MARV 1634.

All forty-six plates in this copy of Orlando Furioso can now be accessed on Kura Heritage Collections.

Don’s scholarly edition of Andrew Marvell’s ‘The Rehearsal transpros’d, and the rehearsal transpros’d, the second part’ (Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1971) means that the Marvell components of the collection are well represented with books from Don and earlier donors to Auckland.

Don Smith provenance can be found here with another copy from 1672, accessioned in 1976  as well as the 1673 edition from Don’s library. Note the full title, from the catalogue record, complete with challenge:

‘The rehearsall transpros'd: the second part. Occasioned by two letters: the first printed, by a nameless author, intituled, A reproof, &c. The second letter left for me at a friends house, dated Nov. 3. 1673. Subscribed J.G. and concluding with these words ; If thou darest to print or publish any lie or libel against Doctor Parker, by the eternal God I will cut thy throat.'

 

Image: Andrew Marvell / The Rehearsal Transpros’d (1673). Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections MARV 1673.

These comparative editions became the focus for Dr Mark Houlahan, ‘Books do furnish a (scholar’s) room: Don Smith & Marvell’s The Rehearsal Transprosed’. In his paper Mark addressed the question:

‘Why should members of the Auckland Free Public Library bother with religious and political quarrels from 17th century England? Can these handsome 300-year-old books still speak to Aotearoa in 2025?’

Mark answered this question with a powerful Yes. You can listen to his paper here: 

Ngā Pātaka Kōrero - Auckland Libraries · The Don Smith Symposium - Rehearsal Transpros’d with Dr Mark Houlahan

The third speaker in the symposium was Dr Shef Rogers from the University of Otago. Shef spoke about “The Messy but Revealing Immediacy of Miscellanies” using Don’s set of the eleven volumes that comprise the set of miscellaneous prose and verse from Jonathan Swift and friends. 

Shef used his bibliographical prowess to explain why the eleven-volume set is numbered from, 3 to 13. Shef currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Oxford edition of the works of Alexander Pope. In his paper he spoke about a ‘trap’ Pope set to protect his reputation, which became the basis for our current copyright law.

Image: Jonathan Swift. Miscellanies. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, SWIF 1745, 1747-1749

You can listen to Dr Shef Rogers presentation here: 

Ngā Pātaka Kōrero - Auckland Libraries · The Don Smith Symposium - Swift's Miscellaneous with Dr Shef Rogers

In her introduction to the Symposium Rare Book curator Jane Wild noted that: 

“It is exceptional for a formed collection to be added to a research library in the twenty-first century. This reflects institutional concerns about space, collecting priorities and the number of potential donations on offer. When a curated collection is acquired through donation or purchase many parts of the library machine work together to make the books accessible for research. This includes the conservators in the Preservation Unit, the Digitisation Team, our Heritage Cataloguer who has described the titles so they can be found across the globe.  The shared goal is to make the books available for researchers in a Reading Room. We were delighted to welcome the three scholars visiting Don’s books, just as he intended.” 

Rare Book Librarians Renee Orr and Jane Wild produced a printed handlist of Don’s gift to the library as a keepsake for the symposium on 8 November 2025. An electronic version is available to support research access.

Authors: Jane Wild and Renee Orr, Rare Book Librarians

Further reading:

University News obituary (2023)

Heritage et AL blog about Dora Carrington’s bookplate design

Auckland Library Heritage Trust