Heritage et AL

The ceremonies and religious customs of the various nations of the known world was the first book to compare the world’s religions in a way that encouraged tolerance and has recently been called ' The book that changed Europe'. Listen to Sue Berman and Andrew Henry discuss the book on our Real Gold podcast . The ceremonies and religious customs was illustrated by Bernard Picart and written and published in Amsterdam by Jean Frederic Bernard between 1723 and 1737. Better known as Picart’s Ceremonies it is a beautifully illustrated seven volume work with over 260 plates of engravings by Picart who was one of the most famous engravers and book-illustrators of the time. Much of the text that accompanies these images was written by Jean Frederic Bernard, a successful book publisher, although his name never appeared on any of the editions. What made this such a revolutionary work was that Bernard & Picart try to present as positive a version of other beliefs to th...

The theme for school holidays events this April is storytelling – the perfect excuse to look at one of the all-time greatest hits of children’s literature, the Arabian Nights , known in Arabic as Alf Layla wa Layla – The Thousand and One Nights . Their Chief in a low but distinct voice uttered the two words, “Open Sesame”.  Ref: Plates from Stories from the Arabian nights / retold by Laurence Housman; with drawings by Edmund Dulac. New York: Hodder and Stoughton, 1907, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, IL: 1907 DULA. Storytelling is one of the repeated themes of the Nights , with the collection well-known for its ‘stories within a story’ framing device. In most full editions the Nights begin with the tale of the jealous king Shahriyar, who is a serial killer of wives – marrying daily and executing his brides the next morning. Into this deadly situation steps Scheherazade, the vizier’s daughter and an expert storyteller.

Today, October 25, marks the 600 year anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, a major English victory in the Hundred Years’ War won by King Henry the Fifth. This gives us a great excuse to have a look at a couple of our editions of Shakespeare’s Henry V. The play Henry the Fifth as we now know it first appeared in 1623 in what is known as the First Folio . Ref: William Shakespeare, First Folio Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories & tragedies, pp.68-69, 1623, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 1623 SHAK.

One of the recipients of  Auckland Library Heritage Trust 's  Researcher in Residence  award for 2014/2015 was Dr Zain Ali. Dr Ali focused his research on a  golden Quran  that  Henry Shaw  donated to the library and also some  manus cripts of poems in  Arabic . The aim of the Researcher in Residence scholarship is to assist with scholarly research and promotion of materials held in  Sir George Grey Special Collections . These aims were certainly achieved this year with some Arabic manuscripts being translated into English for the first time. The fruits of this research were presented in a talk at the library on the evening of 28 May this year. The video of the talk is now up online and you can watch the talk that Dr Ali and translator Hoda Khaled Fahmy gave below: Do have a look at Auckland Libraries YouTube Channel ; there is some great content there. Recently added videos include some of our family history talks through ...

Among the many items that Auckland bibliophile Henry Shaw (1850-1928) donated to the Library early in the twentieth century are a number of Asian and Middle Eastern manuscripts purchased from London booksellers. Shaw did not share Sir George Grey's interest in philology. His chief reason for collecting these manuscripts was aesthetic rather than linguistic. He was drawn to fine calligraphy and illustration. One of Shaw's most exquisite donations is a handwritten Quran from India , bound in lacquered paiper-mâché covers that are painted on both sides with richly coloured floral patterns. The sacred text is inscribed in black ink on a gold background within blue and gold borders. Chapter headings are written in blue and accompanied with small ornamental devices. Many pages have skillful decorations in the margins. Ref: The Quran, 1817, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 7-C1914. On one of the pages Shaw has pasted a note from a bookseller's ca...