Heritage et AL

Sometimes when a customer has navigated their way up two flights of escalators and come across the  Sir George Grey Special Collections exhibition room, they might decide to go through another set of glass doors to the reading room for a look around. At this point, they might scan recent acquisitions displayed in a case or walk around the edges of the room looking at the books-about-rare-books on the shelves. Next the person at the reading room desk might walk over and say 'hello' and tell them a bit about the collection. And thankfully, there is always the book  Real Gold on hand: making the task of briefly outlining the wonderful, varied and expanding Sir George Grey Special Collections much easier. Ref: Iain Sharp, Real gold: treasures of Auckland City Libraries, Auckland: AUP, 2007. When Real Gold was published in 2007 there was a physical exhibition to coincide with the book launch. In addition, there is an online version of this exhibition which gives de...

In recent years Auckland bibliophile and historian John Webster has been a generous donor to Sir George Grey Special Collections . Among the items he has gifted to the library is an 1845 edition of 'The poems of William Wordsworth '. The book is in superb condition for its age, but what makes it of particular interest is the hand-written inscription on the second leaf, which reads: “Anna Hosykns from William Wordsworth, Westminster Cloisters, 15th April 1847.” Ref: Second leaf inscription from 'William Wordsworth, 'The poetical works...'  London: Edward Moxon, 1845.' Sir George Grey Special Collections. The writing matches other surviving examples from the poet’s pen. Biographies and Wordsworth’s published letters verify that he was acquainted with Anna Hoskyns. Anna’s maiden name was Ricketts. Born in 1814, she belonged to a family that became part of Wordsworth’s circle in the late 1830s. She was among the group of friends that accompanied the po...

At this time of year, summer definitely feels like it is underway and so too are the beautiful array of plants in our gardens, parks and the landscapes that make up the Auckland region. With this blog post we celebrate the beauty of the natural world through the heritage collections at Auckland Libraries. You can search for images yourself by browsing through the heritage databases including Kura and  Heritage Images , by using keywords such as flowers and plants.  Portraits with flowers: Ref: 31-58309, portrait of Miss Lily Roberts wearing a gown with flowers, 1909, Sir George Grey Special Collections Ref: Footprints 01064, Nan Gilmour among the blossoms, Howick, c. 1910, photograph reproduced by courtesy of Howick Historical Society, South Auckland Research Centre Ref: 31-57964, portrait of Miss C Donne, standing, who is wearing a large hat decorated with flowers, no date, Sir George Grey Special Collections