How did a very Scottish book end up in New Zealand, on the
other side of the world? Probably without much difficulty, even if it came
over when it was first published. British booklists made their way to New
Zealand as well as everywhere else in the Empire (Governor Grey, for example,
was an inveterate book collector even living in South Africa and New Zealand in the mid nineteenth century).
The book could have been ordered from New Zealand when it was published and
sent over, either to a buyer or to a bookseller.
There are strong Scottish connections in New Zealand, especially in the South Island – the book could have been brought over by immigrants (perhaps even someone in the printing trade!) or sent as a gift. Day Dreams was well-received in America, so there's no reason it shouldn't have also made the journey down under. Edmonston & Douglas often included advertisements in the back of their books, so people who bought one of their books could learn of others. |
I don't know when it acquired its new binding – but sometime afterwards it was damaged by someone or something. The holes are circular when shallow and square when deep and have no pattern. To me, they look rather like some bored student attacked it with the point of a drawing compass.
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While the early story of this copy of Day Dreams is unlikely to ever be known, since previous owners carefully refrained from marking it in useful ways, all I can say is that it gained a nice bit of foxing around the endpapers.
In 1960, however, this changes.
In 1960, however, this changes.
The book becomes a library book. Where did the library acquire this book? I don't know. There are no bookseller marks, not even a price pencilled on the title page. But the accession number 60-8964 tells us it was accessioned (added to the card catalogue) in 1960, and it was the 8964th book accessioned in that year.
There are three library stamps on the book, each for a different library, but this shows a timeline rather than changes of ownership. In 1960 Palmerston North University College library accessioned the book and added it to their shelves (and designated it 370.1 in the Dewey Decimal System: Education philosophy and theory). In 1963 the college was amalgamated with Massey Agricultural College to form the Massey University College of Manawatu – presumably the next stamp was added then. It had to be added quickly, because in 1964 the college became the Massey University of Manawatu. No stamps were added then; maybe they thought it had enough at this point... |
Some time before the computer catalogue was introduced in the 1980s, Day Dreams was placed in Stack (staff-only-access storage) and when the huge job of shifting records from the card catalogue to the computer catalogue was undertaken, the record for this book didn’t make it. In the 2010s there was a push to find such fugitive books and Day Dreams was wrested from its hiding place and reassessed. Its services being deemed no longer necessary, it was withdrawn from stock of the Massey University Library. There’s no date on the stamp, but as I was the one to put it there I can tell you it was in 2011. Since the library no longer wanted the book, I brought it home.
So, nearly 150 years after its printing in the age of steam and moveable type, Day Dreams comes to rest in a twenty-first century house, full of books but also computers and TVs and personal printers, in a world where communication media and printing are wildly different – and yet Thompson’s words are still read and Day Dream’s story can still be told.
Technologies change, but stories don’t. And books have always been about stories.
So, nearly 150 years after its printing in the age of steam and moveable type, Day Dreams comes to rest in a twenty-first century house, full of books but also computers and TVs and personal printers, in a world where communication media and printing are wildly different – and yet Thompson’s words are still read and Day Dream’s story can still be told.
Technologies change, but stories don’t. And books have always been about stories.
For more information see:
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/scots
A history of Scottish immigrants in New Zealand.
https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/history-of-massey-university/1946---1963/1946---1963_home.cfm
Information about Massey University’s history.
For stories of other nineteenth century books, see:
http://joemillerscompletejestbook.weebly.com/index.html
http://whilethebillyboils.weebly.com
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/scots
A history of Scottish immigrants in New Zealand.
https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/history-of-massey-university/1946---1963/1946---1963_home.cfm
Information about Massey University’s history.
For stories of other nineteenth century books, see:
http://joemillerscompletejestbook.weebly.com/index.html
http://whilethebillyboils.weebly.com