David Rumsey Map collection

With my imminent move to the Maps collections at the State Library, Rare diversions will be including maps as well as rare books!
The David Rumsey Map collections site is amazing and an incredible diversion. The link to Visual Collections is also interesting - ' View maps, fine artwork, photographs and other items from over thirty renowned collections '. There are some excellent examples of how technology can be used to highlight and improve access to historical and contemporary collections.

Puddings from the John Hoyle Cookery Collection

In the Everylady's Cook-book (641.5994/120) published in 1938, Miss Drake suggests that as well as cooking the traditional Plum pudding 'because it is part of our Empire inheritance' we should also consider a Fruit and Nut Jelly or 'the 101 degrees in the shade Christmas Pudding', a mixture of raisins, walnuts, almonds, cherries, nutmeg, cinnamon and spice set in an amber jelly made with plenty of fruit juice or wine.


If you are looking for the Christmas Pudding which won first prize at the Melbourne Show you will need to consult Mrs. Floate's "secret of success" Cookery Book. Volume 2 (641.5994/141) published in 1945. Her secret seems to be the appropriate use of suet as well as figs, dates, orange marmalade, treacle and 12 eggs!

For something a little more complicated you may like to consult the 1939 edition of the Green and Gold Cookery Book(641.5994/140), first published in the 1920s, for the Happy Day Pudding.

Take two or more children, according to taste, one skyful of sun, one lawn ( fresh and green ), four trees ( shady ones preferred ), one nursemaid ( out of sight). Take the children, mix well with an armful of dolls, reins, rubber balls, one puppy, one tent, and one rocking horse. When mixed, sprinkle all over with smiles and a pinch of unselfishness. Keep stirring till sundown, then take the children, put in a cool room, cover lightly, and leave till morning.

Mark Catesby's Natural History of Carolina...

In 2001 the NSW Parliamentary Library raised over $500,000 through the sale of material from their collections. At the time the State Library was offered a number of significant items including the third edition of The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands ( RB/F/374-375) published in 1771.
The hand-coloured engravings in these beautiful volumes were created by English artist and naturalist Mark Catesby (1683-1749) who spent many years in North America drawing and documenting the animal and plant life.
The Catesby Commemorative Trust has produced a film on the life of Mark Catesby.


The Curious Mister Catesby from David Elliott on Vimeo.

The Catesby volumes were a significant addition to the impressive collection of works on ornithology already held by the Library including works by Audubon, Gould, Levaillant,Latham,Buffon and Lewin.

Sloane's 9 Tips To Surviving The Depression As A Rare Bookseller

Thefts at the British Library

An article from the Guardian in the UK from November 21, 2008, describes the theft of single leaves from rare printed works in a number of Libraries in the UK, including the British Library and the Bodleian.
According to the article

'Using electronic records, they found all the British Library members who had taken out the book and then examined other works these people had had contact with. They discovered that other works detailing the same periods in history and covering European engagement to the area from modern-day Syria to Bangladesh were also damaged.'

Without the ability to electronically request, circulate and examine transaction data on our collections how easily could we follow the trail of a suspected thief?

Handle this Book!

In Handle this Book! the New York Times describes the presentation of rare books and manuscripts to History undergraduates. There's nothing like the smell of old books, the sound as you flick through the pages of a book made from cloth paper or reading the scribbled notes and signatures of previous owners!

This is the untidy scrawl of a previous owner of the 1640 edition of Parkinson's Herbal held in the Richardson Collection (263F). William Hopkins has practised his signature numerous times on the last page of the volume but what was he thinking when he scrawled the following lines...?

'Remember well and bear in mind
a faithful friend is hard to find
but how to find a friend so just
is first to try and then to trust'

Virtually recreating the Library of Sir Hans Sloane

A Press release from the Wellcome Trust and the British Library has announced the availability of the Sloane Printed Book Catalogue. This is a virtual reconstruction of the Library of Sir Hans Sloane ( 1660 - 1753) , one of Britain's most important collectors and founder of the British Museum. The comment by Alison Walker, Lead Researcher of The Sloane Printed Books Project...' We can learn much about Sir Hans Sloane, his career, and the intellectual and scientific circles in which he lived by looking at what material he acquired and how it was used, ' reminds us of how important it is that we continue the work from the David Scott Mitchell Project and include the provenance of items in our electronic records, particularly when they are related to significant people in the Library's history and the development of Australia.

You can read about the collection and the project from the website. The detail on identifying and interpreting the provenance of items is interesting. I know I have seen items in the Library's collections with this British Museum stamp. If we looked closer would we also find a Sloane shelfmark?
On a lighter note, did you know that Sir Hans Sloane 'discovered' Milk Chocolate?