February brings us a host of riches, including a visit from American academic Prof. Mona Scheuermann lecturing on Boswell’s Account of Corsica (1768).

Author of five books on eighteenth-century literature and culture examining figures such as Hannah More, William Godwin and Jane Austen, Prof. Scheuermann is currently working on a new book tentatively entitled The Orient and the Neighborhood: Eighteenth–Century European Travel Images.

When James Boswell decided, at the end of his quite standard Grand Tour, to add Corsica to his trip before he headed home he could not have expected that the Corsican fight for liberty would become his own life-long cause, nor that his written account of the trip instantly would make him famous.  But “Corsica Boswell” he became.  This lecture will discuss the themes of Boswell’s account as well as the specific aspects of Corsican culture he chose to highlight.

The lecture will take place in Archway 2 at 5:30–6:30 on Monday, 23 February.  We look forward to seeing you.

 The Centre for the Book is delighted to welcome Kay Craddock and her husband Jonathan Burdon across the Tasman from our sister City of Literature in Australia to help us celebrate World Book Day 2015.

Kay Craddock is a prominent figure in the rare book world. Starting out modestly fifty years ago in the inner Melbourne suburb of Essendon, she is a founding member of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers (ANZAAB), and a former President of that association. In 1996 she was the first bookseller from the Southern Hemisphere to be elected to the committee of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), and four years later she became the first Australian (and first and only female) President of ILAB.

Kay will talk about her life as a bookseller, drawing on the fascinating history of the rare book trade in the second half of the twentieth century – when antiquarian bookselling emerged as a recognised profession in Australia and New Zealand.

The lecture will be held in Archway 2 lecture theatre at 5:30 on Thursday, 5 March.  We do hope you can join us.

Check out the links below featuring Kay and her longstanding work in the world of books:

https://www.ilab.org/eng/booksellers_main_page/meet_the_ilab_booksellers/Kay_and_Muriel_Craddock.html

http://www.aba.org.uk/featured-shops/114-aba-bookshops-overseas/218-kay-craddock-antiquarian-bookseller-melbourne

If you are planning to attend Kay Craddock’s talk at 5:30 on Thursday, 5 March, and would like to join her and other friends of the Centre for the Book for dinner, here’s what you need to know.

Venue: Staff Club, downstairs in Gallery Restaurant space

Format: 3-course buffet with the following options:

Entree: Cream of Tomato Soup

Mains: Roast breast of chicken coated with mushrooms and white wine sauce
Fish parcels with lemon and asparagus

Accompanied by: Steamed green beans with toasled shaved almonds
Spiced vegetable cous cous

And: Tossed green salad
Asian coleslaw

Followed by: Chocolate brownies, washed down with coffee, black tea or herbal tea

A cash bar will also be available.

Cost $40/person, by advance purchase from Donald Kerr in Special Collections, cash or cheque.  We can accommodate 35 guests besides the speaker and her partner (Jonathan Burdon of Pilgrim Books, a dealer in books on special forces operations) and the Centre’s two directors, on a first-come, first-served basis.  If you cannot call in to pay immediately, please let Donald know by email of your wish to attend so that he can put you on the guest list.

We’ll have the usual raffles and good cheer, and hope you are able to join us

Interested in the black art?  Come along and watch a demonstration of handpress printing at the Otakou Press led by Dr. John Holmes, Donald Kerr and Shef Rogers.  The Centre for the Book is pleased to support Open Day and invites students to have a go at printing their own sheet.  Feel free to drop in any time between 11-2 on Tuesday, 28 April.  You will find us upstairs in the Central Library, overlooking the Otago Museum domain at the west end of the building.

If the current Special Collections exhibition on Joseph Mellor interests you, then you should plan to attend the lecture by Prof. Lyall Hanton, the Mellor Professor of Chemistry at Otago, to hear about the man himself and his impressive achievements.  Prof. Hanton is a member of the Centre’s Advisory Board, and will deliver his lecture on the same topic as the exhibition, “The World of Joseph Mellor.”  The lecture will take place in the Burns 2 lecture theatre on Thursday, 19 February at 5.30pm.  Come along and learn about this amazing chemist from an equally lively chemist, and enrich your appreciation of the exhibition.

The Centre for the Book is delighted to welcome Christopher Buckland Wright to deliver an illustrated lecture about the work of his father, “John Buckland Wright, Engraver and Book Illustrator” at 5:30 pm on Tuesday, 10 February 2015, in Burns 2.  All are welcome to come hear about the work of this talented artist.  For an overview of some of his work, see the Library’s earlier exhibition, “John Buckland Wright—Master of the Burin.”

The Centre for the Book is delighted to open our year’s activities with a visit from Dr. Claire Bolton, who will speak on “Imperfect Impressions—Clues to Fifteenth-Century Printing Practices.”  Her talk will take place in Cen3, first floor of the Central Library, on Thursday, 26 February at 5:15 pm and will include drinks and nibbles and lovely images such as the one shown here.

Claire Bolton ran a letterpress printshop, The Alembic Press, for over 45 years, mainly producing books in limited editions on the historical aspects of paper printing and type. About ten years ago she decided to put her practice into theory and began to research fifteenth-century printing methods. An MA in the History of Printing at the University of Reading’s Department of Typography and Graphic Communications led on to research for her PhD in early printing practices – really an excuse to spend many happy hours in library collections looking at incunabula.

She has had a number of academic papers published, and has taught numerous letterpress and bookbinding workshops In the UK, Europe, US and Australia. Her doctorial thesis about fifteenth-century printing practices will be published by Oxford Bibliographical Society.

She has recently, with her husband David, appraised the printing collection and restored the printshop at New Norcia in WA, which has just run its first letterpress workshop.  We are very pleased that they are able to visit Dunedin.

Subtitled Chemist, Ceramicist & Cartoonist, the current Special Collections exhibition in the de Beer Gallery, Special Collections, first floor, Central University Library, highlights the life of an extraordinary man – from humble beginnings living in Kaikorai Valley and first work in Dunedin (e.g. Sargoods Boot Factory), to his remarkable work in the field of ceramics in Stoke-on-Trent. In addition there is his magnum opus: his 16-volume definitive A Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry (1922-1937), which amounts to some 15,000 pages and 16 million words. This single author effort has never been equalled. Mellor was also a skilled cartoonist and his Uncle Joe’s Nonsense (1934), which is on display, contains a collection of humorous stories illustrated with clever pen sketches.

The exhibition runs to 5 March 2015, Monday to Friday 8.30 to 5.00

For further information, please contact Special Collections Librarian Dr Donald Kerr (donald.kerr@otago.ac.nz) or co-curator Lyall Hanton, Mellor Professor of Chemistry, University of Otago (lyall.hanton@otago.ac.nz)

See this fun interview with Prof. Lyall Hanton, the current Mellor Professor of Chemistry at Otago, about the exhibition.