News:
A selection of rare 17th-century English Civil War pamphlets have been acquired for the State Library’s Emmerson collection. The 33 pamphlets were purchased using funds bequeathed by John Emmerson to support ongoing additions to his exceptional collection of early printed English books.
People & professions, Such was life:
Howard Arkley (1951-1999) is acknowledged as one of the most important artists in contemporary Australian art. His archive was acquired by the Library in 2011 and consists of hundreds of drawings, sketches, watercolours, photographs and diaries which give insights into Arkley’s planning processes, influences and reading.
You don’t have to be outdoors to enjoy summer.
Buildings & streets, Such was life:
There’s a little blue building outside Flinders Street Station. ‘When was it built?’, a curious library patron asked. The question led me to some interesting research involving milk cans, viaduct vaults and bananas.
News:
Thanks to the many generous supporters of our 2014 public appeal, we have recently made hundreds of never-before-seen historic photographs of Fitzroy and Castlemaine available online.
11 kilometres of books, papers and ephemera are hidden beneath the streets of Melbourne. Anyone can access them, but they’ll need a State Library card.
Rare Books & Arts, Visual arts:
Guest blogger and library volunteer Christine Bell shares her passion for bookplates and throws some light on the work she’s doing behind the scenes on some of our own collections.
When Ernest Shackleton’s 1915 Antarctic expedition ran into trouble, the Ross Sea party that was laying out stores for his team continued unawares, facing harrowing challenges of their own.
People & professions, Such was life:
This year marks the bicentenary of the publication of the first geological map of England and Wales, laying the foundations for geological surveys across the world.
Some great new CD arrivals in pop, rock, rhythm & blues, film soundtracks, musical theatre, classical music and opera; something for just about everyone.
Mary Fortune was the author of the longest running 19th-century crime fiction series published in a periodical and one of the earliest female crime writers in the world.
To celebrate the Children’s Book Council of Australia Week, we pay tribute to the life of children’s literature collector, Ken Pound, and the collection he has left for us all.
