The Ashes are underway. This is one of the most engaging of international sporting contests, England versus Australia, the home country versus the rowdy colonists. Except of course that this year the England coach and captain are both Kiwi colonial boys.
We have some early cricket related autograph letters/signatures, plus...
read more about CRICKET, THE ASHES, CRICKETING RECORDS & PEOPLE, & MISS ROSELIE DEANE
As we celebrate 70 years since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquered Mt Everest, last week, only 6 years before, on Jan 1947, Hillary and his climbing partner Harry Ayres, stood on the summit of Mt Cook in New Zealand’s Southern Alps, Hillary’s training ground along many fine mountaineers who...
In 1848, the first daguerreotype made in New Zealand was attempted, that of Eliza Grey, wife of Governor George. It failed, but shortly after, studios were established in Wellington and one in Auckland set up by Isaac Polack, nephew of Joel Polack, the early trader and writer.
In 1866 Walter...
In 1814, about 10 years after Lord Nelson’s death and having lived in a ménage with him and her husband, Lady Emma Hamilton was deeply in debt. She was selling off her possessions, and published the Letters of Nelson to herself, resultingly turning society even more against her.
Among the...
Amidst the battles and blood of the Napoleonic Wars, there was always time for great literature. Colonel Sir William Robe commanded the Royal Artillery in Spain in the Peninsular War. After taking part in Wellington’s victory over the French at Salamanca on 22 July 1812, he led his men into...
Charles Dickens was the great Victorian entertainer! His books usually first came out in serial form, holding his readers in suspense, issue after issue. They were then collected and published as bound copies, filling the shelves of libraries on both sides of the Atlantic.
The first editions of his novels...
As Waitangi Day approaches, we might wonder what the Bay of Islands looked like at the time.
This panorama, was designed by artist Robert Burford,. and first exhibited on a huge scale, in 1838, in London’s Leicester Square, for the admittance fee of one shilling.
Our original 1841 woodcut double...
As the Australian Open hits headlines, we deal with TENNIS in a past era from our varied stock
Between the wars, one of the centres of London social life was Sussex Lodge, home of Sophie, Lady Wavertree (later married to New Zealand tennis player and politician F.M.B. Fisher, living in New...
