In this episode, we return to the friendship between Samuel Johnson and James Boswell by focusing on a trip the pair made to Scotland.

Georgia explains how both authors wrote about their trip in quite different ways. Johnson’s book has a rational, almost anthropological take on their journey. While Boswell’s writing about Johnson fascinated and repelled readers in the eighteenth century because he blurred the distinction between public and private life.

Learn more about these rare books:

https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book/ep10-johnson-boswell-hebrides.html

Enjoy other Meet a Rare Book episodes from the series playlist: https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book.html

Sound Archive: Originally recorded on 3 October 2019 for the Meet a Rare Book Collection SA_0078_22

Image: James Boswell. A journal of a tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, 1807. b1971322_06

Music: www.purple-planet.com; www.chosic.com

Production Credits:

Edited and presented for podcast by Mark Gosper, 2021.

Staff talks presented by Georgia Prince recorded by Sue Berman [2019-2021].

Executive producer - Sue Berman

Research and copywriting - Renée Orr, Zoë Colling, Georgia Prince and Jane Wild.

Thanks to the Digital Assets, Web Design and Content and Development Teams.

Supported by Auckland Council Libraries.

Over the past 200 years, much has been written about the infamous mutiny on the Bounty.

Listen to Georgia tell the whole grim story, from the events of the mutiny, to Bligh and his crew cast off in a tiny launch exposed to the elements, and finally the disastrous voyage of the Pandora, the naval frigate sent to track down the mutineers.

Learn more about these rare books:

https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book/ep9-mutiny-on-the-bounty.html

Enjoy other Meet a Rare Book episodes from the series playlist: https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book.html

Sound Archive: Originally recorded on25 November 2020 for the Meet a Rare Book Collection SA_0078_21

Image: George Hamilton. A voyage round the world, in His Majesty’s frigate Pandora, 1793. b3440756_06

Music: www.purple-planet.com

Production Credits:

Edited and presented for podcast by Mark Gosper, 2021.

Staff talks presented by Georgia Prince recorded by Sue Berman [2019-2021].

Executive producer - Sue Berman

Research and copywriting - Renée Orr, Zoë Colling, Georgia Prince and Jane Wild.

Thanks to the Digital Assets, Web Design and Content and Development Teams.

Supported by Auckland Council Libraries.

Listen to learn about Mary Wollstonecraft’s groundbreaking book of feminist philosophy, her brave and unconventional lifestyle, her political writing on the French Revolution, and her imaginatively written travel book.

After Wollstonecraft's death, her grief-stricken widower, William Godwin, published Memoirs of Her Life, a revolutionary biography, which inadvertently destroyed her reputation for almost a century.

Learn more about these rare books:

https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book/ep7-wollstonecraft.html

Enjoy other Meet a Rare Book episodes from the series playlist:

https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book.html

Sound Archive: Originally recorded on 11 February 2021 for the Meet a Rare Book Collection SA_0078_22

Image: Mary Wollstonecraft. A vindication of the rights of woman, 1792.

b1973396_02

Music: Afternoon Tea by Mona Wonderlick - https://soundcloud.com/search?q=Mona%20Wonderlick

AShamaluevMusic - https://soundcloud.com/search?q=AShamaluevMusic

Production Credits:

Edited and presented for podcast by Mark Gosper, 2021.

Staff talks presented by Georgia Prince recorded by Sue Berman [2019-2021].

Executive producer - Sue Berman

Research and copywriting - Renée Orr, Zoë Colling, Georgia Prince and Jane Wild.

Thanks to the Digital Assets, Web Design and Content and Development Teams.

Supported by Auckland Council Libraries.

In the eighteenth-century, accounts of maritime exploration were a popular genre in book publishing.

This episode features two voyages that captured the public’s imagination – Anson’s controversial expedition to attack Spanish interests in South America, and Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific on the Endeavour. Listen to Georgia tell the story of these journeys through the books published about them.

Learn more about these rare books:

https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book/ep8-anson-cook.html

Enjoy other Meet a Rare Book episodes from the series playlist: https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book.html

Sound Archive: Originally recorded on 23 January 2020 {Anson] SA_0078_12 and 21 March 2020 [Cook] SA_0078_14 for the Meet a Rare Book Collection.

Image: John Byron. The narrative of the Honourable John Byron, 1768. b1966225_02

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

Dawn chorus with bellbird/korimako in the foreground:

https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/birds/bird-songs-and-calls/

Production Credits:

Edited and presented for podcast by Mark Gosper, 2021.

Staff talks presented by Georgia Prince recorded by Sue Berman [2019-2021].

Executive producer - Sue Berman

Research and copywriting - Renée Orr, Zoë Colling, Georgia Prince and Jane Wild.

Thanks to the Digital Assets, Web Design and Content and Development Teams.

Supported by Auckland Council Libraries.

Samuel Johnson and James Boswell were two figures of eighteenth-century literature who wrote highly influential works.

Listen to Georgia explore Johnson’s dictionary - a publication that remained the single most authoritative English dictionary for over 150 years. We also learn about Boswell’s biography of Johnson, one of the first biographies in English to attempt to show the completeness of a person’s character rather than only revealing their positive attributes.

Learn more about these rare books:

https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book/ep6-johnson-boswell.html

Enjoy other Meet a Rare Book episodes from the series playlist: https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book.html

Sound Archive: Originally recorded on 19 September 2019 for the Meet a Rare Book Collection SA_0078_06

Image: Samuel Johnson. A dictionary of the English language, 1765.

b1966382_Vol_1_02

Music: www.purple-planet.com

Production Credits:

Edited and presented for podcast by Mark Gosper, 2021.

Staff talks presented by Georgia Prince recorded by Sue Berman [2019-2021].

Executive producer - Sue Berman

Research and copywriting - Renée Orr, Zoë Colling, Georgia Prince and Jane Wild.

Thanks to the Digital Assets, Web Design and Content and Development Teams.

Supported by Auckland Council Libraries.

In this episode, we get up close and personal with Horace Walpole: prime minister’s son, writer, and patron of the arts.

Georgia first discusses a book of poetry printed at Walpole’s Strawberry Hill Press before taking us inside the walls of the house itself, a gothic masterpiece on the banks of the river Thames on the outskirts of London.

Learn more about these rare books:

https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book/ep5-horace-walpole.html

Enjoy other Meet a Rare Book episodes from the series playlist: https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book.html

Sound Archive: Originally recorded on 22 August 2019 for the Meet a Rare Book Collection SA_0078_04

Image: The works of Horatio Walpole, 1798. b1969393_Vol_1_03

Music: www.purple-planet.com

Production Credits:

Edited and presented for podcast by Mark Gosper, 2021.

Staff talks presented by Georgia Prince recorded by Sue Berman [2019-2021].

Executive producer - Sue Berman

Research and copywriting - Renée Orr, Zoë Colling, Georgia Prince and Jane Wild.

Thanks to the Digital Assets, Web Design and Content and Development Teams.

Supported by Auckland Council Libraries.

One of the most valued attributes of a scientific illustration in the eighteenth-century was colour, which at that time was painstakingly applied by hand.

Listen to this episode to hear Georgia discuss the illustrations in two remarkable books - one about plants and one about insects - then head to Kura Heritage Collections Online to browse all the images.

Learn more about these rare books:

https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book/ep4-hand-colouring.html

Enjoy other Meet a Rare Book episodes from the series playlist: https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book.html

Sound Archive: Originally recorded on 25 July 2019 for the Meet a Rare Book Collection SA_0078_02

Image: Moses Harris. An exposition of English insects, 1782, b1972780_002

Music: www.purple-planet.com; Afternoon Tea by Mona Wonderlick - soundcloud.com/search?q=Mona%20Wonderlick

Production Credits:

Edited and presented for podcast by Mark Gosper, 2021.

Staff talks presented by Georgia Prince recorded by Sue Berman [2019-2021].

Executive producer - Sue Berman

Research and copywriting - Renée Orr, Zoë Colling, Georgia Prince and Jane Wild.

Thanks to the Digital Assets, Web Design and Content and Development Teams.

Supported by Auckland Council Libraries.

In the eighteenth-century, exotic plant species were arriving in England from all over the world, but prospective gardeners faced the challenge of growing them successfully in the local climate.

Listen to Georgia discuss two famous books that provided advice on everything from building coal-heated greenhouses to making and preserving wine, alongside sumptuous illustrations of the new flowers and fruits that could be grown.

Learn more about these rare books:

https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book/ep3-gardening.html

Enjoy other Meet a Rare Book episodes from the series playlist: https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book.html

Sound Archive: Originally recorded on 11 July 2019 for the Meet a Rare Book Collection SA_0078_01

Image: John Hill. Eden: or, a compleat body of gardening, 1757. b1968299_033

Music: www.purple-planet.com; Afternoon Tea by Mona Wonderlick - https://soundcloud.com/search?q=Mona%20Wonderlick

Production Credits:

Edited and presented for podcast by Mark Gosper, 2021.

Staff talks presented by Georgia Prince recorded by Sue Berman [2019-2021].

Executive producer - Sue Berman

Research and copywriting - Renée Orr, Zoë Colling, Georgia Prince and Jane Wild.

Thanks to the Digital Assets, Web Design and Content and Development Teams.

Supported by Auckland Council Libraries.

Illustrating early books could be difficult and time-consuming, but could also produce stunning results.

In this episode, we delve into the delicate process of creating a book by engraving on to copper plates and then printing from these plates on to paper.

Learn more about these rare books:

https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book/ep2-engraved-books.html

Enjoy other Meet a Rare Book episodes from the series playlist: https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book.html

Sound Archive: Originally recorded on 8 August 2019 for the Meet a Rare Book Collection SA_0078_03

Image: Horace. Quinti Horatii Flacci opera, Volume 2, 1733, b1968354_Vol_2_46

Music: www.purple-planet.com; Different Story by Another Kid; zapsplat.com

Production Credits:

Edited and presented for podcast by Mark Gosper, 2021.

Staff talks presented by Georgia Prince recorded by Sue Berman [2019-2021].

Executive producer - Sue Berman

Research and copywriting - Renée Orr, Zoë Colling, Georgia Prince and Jane Wild.

Thanks to the Digital Assets, Web Design and Content and Development Teams.

Supported by Auckland Council Libraries.

Listen to Georgia Prince talk about one of Auckland Libraries' particularly beautiful medieval manuscripts, the Besancon missal, created in 1470.

Discover how medieval manuscripts were created and why they have always been luxury objects. The process of making the vellum, sourcing the best pigments, and commissioning the best artists and apprentices were time-consuming and expensive tasks.

Learn more about this manuscript:

https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book/ep1-medieval-manuscripts.html

Enjoy other Meet a Rare Book episodes from the series playlist: https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/en/heritage-and-research/meet-a-rare-book.html

Sound: Originally recorded on 3 August 2021 for the Meet a Rare Book Collection SA_0078_025

Image: Catholic Church. Besancon missal, 1470. MedMS-G139.

Music: https://www.purple-planet.com; https://www.chosic.com; zapsplat.com

Production Credits:

Edited and presented for podcast by Mark Gosper, 2021.

Staff talks presented by Georgia Prince recorded by Sue Berman [2019-2021].

Executive producer - Sue Berman

Research and copywriting - Renée Orr, Zoë Colling, Georgia Prince and Jane Wild.

Thanks to the Digital Assets, Web Design and Content and Development Teams.

Supported by Auckland Council Libraries.