Rare Books
The Rare Books Collection consists of about 7,000 volumes of printed works and a small number of medieval and renaissance manuscript items. The printed collection includes books published before 1820, books remarkable for their rarity regardless of age, certain valuable first editions and special editions, books notable for their illustrations, books of a fragile nature or in a format unsuitable for the open shelves, and fine quality facsimile editions.
Access
- Members of the Library can make an online request via the Library Catalogue and the item(s) will be retrieved within 2 working days.
- Visitors wishing to use items should contact Bronwyn Matthews, Liaison Librarian (Special Collections), by email.
- Requested items from Special Collections will be made be available for consultation in the Macmillan Brown Library.
History of the collection
Most of the items in the Collection were originally donations or bequests, from institutions as well as individuals. The province of Canterbury was set up and administered in 1850 by a group of men, several of whom had attended Christ Church College, Oxford. When Christ’s College, a boys’ secondary school modelled on the English public school, was established in Christchurch soon after the settlement was founded, appeals were made to alumni of the Oxford College, as well as the institution itself, for books to stock the library. In time these books were handed over to the University of Canterbury Library as the most fitting place to house them.
Since then many individuals, including the early professors, have bequeathed or donated collections or individual items to the Library. Professor John Macmillan Brown, who gives his name to New Zealand and Pacific research library, collected in English literature and the humanities as well as Polynesian ethnography and anthropology. Another notable benefactor was John Bell Condliffe (1891-1981) a Canterbury graduate who, as an economist at the University of California had a world reputation in the 1930s and 1940s. He was also a historian of his native country and left his library to the University.
Institutional donors in the 1980s included both the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch and the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch. The Bishop Grimes Library, collected by the first Catholic Bishop of Christchurch, was given to the University, and contained many 18th and 17th century works of theology and church history. The Dean and Chapter of the Anglican Cathedral gave many pre-1800 items, including a first edition of the King James Bible (1611).
Individuals in the last few years who have bequeathed notable material include William Sutton, Canterbury painter and art teacher. Sutton’s interest in medieval art was reflected in his collection, which included a number of superb facsimile editions of outstanding manuscript books, such as the Faksimile-Verlag (Luzerne) edition of the Book of Kells. Other recent donors have been Frank White, John Moffat and Gerald Hunt.
The Library is able to buy only very selectively for the Rare Books Collection. Donations are welcome.