Rare Books & Arts

ABC-Universal, 2017

Festive Sights & Sounds in Arts

December 18, 2017

Music, Rare Books & Arts:

New arrivals include this festive season selection of popular, classical and choral music, children’s songs and ballet. From the Wiggles and Nutcracker to the Melbourne Symphony and Amber Lawrence, there is… Read More ›

Warner Music Australia, 2015

New Listening : Spring into Summer with music

November 14, 2017

Music, Rare Books & Arts:

Spring into Summer with some great new arrivals in pop, rock, jazz, classical, musical theatre, film soundtracks and opera featuring the following. Dream Lover : the Bobby Darin musical : Australian Cast Recording… Read More ›

Chung Ling Soo, the Marvellous Chinese Conjurer ALMA 93.2/34

The life and death of master magician Chung Ling Soo

September 20, 2017

Our stories, Performing Arts, Rare Books & Arts:

Magician William Ellsworth Robinson left behind his plain name and New York background and reinvented himself as the Chung Ling Soo, the Marvellous Chinese Conjurer, complete with an imaginative and fictitious life story, In the great days of vaudeville he achieved world fame and in 1909 embarked on a wildly successful tour of Australia and New Zealand. A decade later, still at the height of his career, Chung Ling Soo was mortally wounded on stage undertaking his sensational bullet catch trick.

ABC, 2015

New Sights and Sounds : Countdown, Bodyguard & more Thoroughly Modern selections.

July 13, 2017

Music, Rare Books & Arts:

Some great new arrivals in Arts include latest releases in opera, ballet, pop, rock, classical music, musical theatre and film soundtracks in various audio and video formats such as CD, DVD, Blu-Ray and online database.… Read More ›

Aerial Views of Melbourne by Charles Daniel Pratt

Aerial Views of Melbourne by Charles Daniel Pratt

June 26, 2017

Photography:

Charles Pratt was born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1891 and was cadet with the First Wellington Rifle Company. When war broke out he quickly enlisted and saw action in… Read More ›

The YVR Collection : a treasure trove of vintage recordings

The YVR Collection : a treasure trove of vintage recordings

May 18, 2017

Music, Rare Books & Arts:

YVR = Ballarat Vintage Recordings.  This sequence contains several collections of vinyl recordings that include the ABC Sound Library, Kevin James Collection, Betty Pounder Collection, and Ron White Collection.  They are stored… Read More ›

Half a Cow Records, 2016

New Sounds : local performers, Electrical Bananas, Firework Dogs & assorted others.

April 7, 2017

Music, Rare Books & Arts:

Lots of new arrivals in the Library’s large collection of recordings by local groups, performers and composers, all released on independent labels.

Maggie 'Herself', Maggie Diaz, 1950-1969

Maggie Diaz: remembering a life as modern as tomorrow

February 17, 2017

Events, Photography:

Maggie Diaz was an American-born Australian commercial photographer who lived and worked in Melbourne.

Intrada, 2016, c1974

New Listening in Arts: Shows & Soundtracks : Bright Star to Chinatown, and much more.

February 2, 2017

Film, Music, Rare Books & Arts:

For the New Year, some great new additions to the Library’s large and growing collection of film soundtracks, and Broadway musical cast albums. From classic scores like Chinatown and Mame, to the contemporary sounds of Waitress and… Read More ›

Richard Divall, By Londonopera (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Remembering Richard Divall

January 18, 2017

Rare Books & Arts:

A good friend to State Library Victoria, Maestro Richard Divall sadly passed away on the weekend after a long battle with cancer.