Note to father found in first NZ-produced book

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Note to father found in first NZ-produced book

A handwritten note from printer and missionary William Colenso to his father has been uncovered in the Massey University library in the first book published in New Zealand.

Associate University Librarian John Charles made the discovery at the Manawatū campus library.

The volume he found comprises two separate works bound together: the Maori language translations of the Gospel of St Luke, and the Epistles to the Ephesians and Philippians. The latter, printed on 17 February 1835, was the first book printed in New Zealand.

Inside the book an inscription from Mr Colenso to his father reads: "To my dear Father is this little Book, (containing the Gospel of Luke and the Epistles to the Ephesians and Philippians,) in the language of New Zealand, being the labor of his Son, and The first fruits of the Mission Press in New Zealand, respectfully presented by W. Colenso, Paihia, Bay of Islands, Augt. 28. 1837.”

Mr Colenso was a colourful character, described as a printer, missionary, explorer, botanist and politician, who founded the printing industry in New Zealand. The Englishman arrived in New Zealand in December 1834 with a small printing press and overcame many difficulties to set up book production on behalf on the Church Missionary Society.

“The fact that within six weeks or so of arriving in Paihia he produced the first book to be printed in New Zealand, is just extraordinary,” Mr Charles says.

The Massey librarian says finding the personal note in such a rare book was special. “This stands out because of the works and Colenso’s significance in the early colony, and the personal nature of the message is just delightful. It’s a wonderful thing to have.”

He says through messages from authors and previous owners you can often track the history of the book and who it has belonged to. “It’s one of the things that makes printed books unique. Online and digital is a wonderful world, but with a digital book you’ll never have the same sense of history that you have with this.”

Mr Charles says the volume presumably made the voyage to England in 1837, where Mr Colenso’s father lived, and then returned at some unknown date to New Zealand.

The University acquired the book in 1986 as part of the library of the late Graham Bagnall, who was an eminent bibliographer, historian and librarian. He noted in the volume that he received it as a gift in 1977 from George Conrad Petersen, with whom he co-authored a major biography of Mr Colenso – but it is not known how Mr Petersen, who received an honorary Doctor of Literature from Massey University in 1964, came to have the book.

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