Orlando Furioso was the focus for the talk delivered by Dr Jack Ross, the first of the scholars to speak at the Don Smith Symposium.

In 2024 Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections gained an important collection with the gift of 183 titles collected by the late Professor Emeritus Donald Ian Brice Smith (Don). The collection of early modern books published before 1801 comprises several hundred volumes. The collection is now housed in archival boxes, each with a label which features Don’s signature, to show the provenance from the library of Professor Smith.

To honour this significant collection Auckland Libraries invited academics from across the country to talk about books in this collection. The event took place on 8 November 2025.

All forty-six plates in this copy of Orlando Furioso can now be accessed on Kura Heritage Collections:

https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/rarebooks/id/14958/rec/1

You can read more in these Heritage et AL blogs:

https://heritageetal.blogspot.com/2025/10/discovering-dora-carrington-in-dons.html

https://heritageetal.blogspot.com/2025/12/five-hundred-years-of-books-collector.html

And additionally in this blog by Dr Jack Ross

https://mairangibay.blogspot.com/2025/10/auckland-central-library-seminar-81125.html