Ngā Pātaka Kōrero - Auckland Libraries

Orlando Furioso was the focus for the talk delivered by Dr Jack Ross, the first of the scholars to speak at the Don Smith Symposium. In 2024 Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections gained an important collection with the gift of 183 titles collected by the late Professor Emeritus Donald Ian Brice Smith (Don). The collection of early modern books published before 1801 comprises several hundred volumes. The collection is now housed in archival boxes, each with a label which features Don’s signature, to show the provenance from the library of Professor Smith. To honour this significant collection Auckland Libraries invited academics from across the country to talk about books in this collection. The event took place on 8 November 2025. All forty-six plates in this copy of Orlando Furioso can now be accessed on Kura Heritage Collections: https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/rarebooks/id/14958/rec/1 You can read more in these Heritage et AL blogs: https://heritageetal.blogspot.com/2025/10/discovering-dora-carrington-in-dons.html https://heritageetal.blogspot.com/2025/12/five-hundred-years-of-books-collector.html And additionally in this blog by Dr Jack Ross https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2025/10/auckland-central-library-seminar-81125.html

This track features Dr Mark Houlahan. In his talk he addresses the question: ‘Why should members of the Auckland Free Public Library bother with religious and political quarrels from 17th century England? Can these handsome 300-year-old books still speak to Aotearoa in 2025?’ In 2024 Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections gained an important collection with the gift of 183 titles collected by the late Professor Emeritus Donald Ian Brice Smith (Don). The collection of early modern books published before 1801 comprises several hundred volumes. The collection is now housed in archival boxes, each with a label which features Don’s signature, to show the provenance from the library of Professor Smith. To honour this significant collection Auckland Libraries invited academics from across the country to talk about books in this collection. The event took place on 8 November 2025. Ref: To explore the text discussed see: Andrew Marvell / The Rehearsal Transpros’d (1673). Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections MARV 1673 https://discover.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/search/card?id=3d966467-b312-5c96-9dda-754ba25af1df&entityType=FormatGroup You can read more in these Heritage et AL blogs: heritageetal.blogspot.com/2025/10/disc…in-dons.html https://heritageetal.blogspot.com/2025/12/five-hundred-years-of-books-collector.html And additionally in this blog by Dr Jack Ross mairangibay.blogspot.com/2025/10/auck…r-81125.html

In this track hear from the third speaker at the Don Smith symposium Dr Shef Rogers from the University of Otago. He spoke about “The Messy but Revealing Immediacy of Miscellanies” using Don’s set of the eleven volumes that comprise the set of miscellaneous prose and verse from Jonathan Swift and friends. In 2024 Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections gained an important collection with the gift of 183 titles collected by the late Professor Emeritus Donald Ian Brice Smith (Don). The collection of early modern books published before 1801 comprises several hundred volumes. The collection is now housed in archival boxes, each with a label which features Don’s signature, to show the provenance from the library of Professor Smith. To honour this significant collection Auckland Libraries invited academics from across the country to talk about books in this collection. The event took place on 8 November 2025. You can read more in these Heritage et AL blogs: https://heritageetal.blogspot.com/2025/10/discovering-dora-carrington-in-dons.html https://heritageetal.blogspot.com/2025/12/five-hundred-years-of-books-collector.html And additionally in this blog by Dr Jack Ross https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2025/10/auckland-central-library-seminar-81125.html

In this Awekura episode we talk with Pasifika Curator Pamata Toleafoa about material items which feature tapa cloth. Items include a signature greeting card to an early 1900s tapa newspaper. Pamata shares the story behind these items and the value of tapa material across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. To read more about this material: Listen to a series of talks on the 1780s Alexander Shaw compiled Tapa Book - https://soundcloud.com/auckland-libraries/sets/tapa-talks and view the page items online here: kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/c…144/rec/5 Visit to see these items on display at the Central City Library through to March 2026 in the Lupe I Vao Ese exhibition: https://new.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/lupe-i-vao-ese.html

In this episode of the Awekura series we talk with Renée Orr, Rare Book specialist and Curatorial Services Team Leader at Auckland Council Libraries Heritage Collections. Renee shares with us a rare 17th Century book, its history and provenance, to this recently donated gift to the Heritage Collection. It’s a bit of a tongue twister of a title! "The Memorable Works of a Son of Thunder and Consolation: Namely, that True Prophet, and Faithful Servant of God, and Sufferer for the Testimony of Jesus, Edward Burroughs, who Dyed a Prisoner for the Word of God, in the City of London, the Fourteenth of the Twelfth Moneth, 1662". The book was printed in 1672 in London and is a collection of the writings of influential Quaker, Edward Burrough. Read more about the book and find links to related material here: https://heritageetal.blogspot.com/2025/11/awekura-edward-burrough-1634-1663.html Image: A collage produced by Julian Lubin from photographs of the Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.