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.