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Robert Graves

In the late 1960s, a decision was made by the University to collect the works of the English poet and novelist Robert Graves. A substantial number of first and second editions is housed in Special Collections, most notably from Graves' own Seizin Press and Leonard and Virginia Woolf's Hogarth Press. This 1981 Folio Society edition of Graves' classic Goodbye to all that was a transfer from general stack. There are still gaps in this particular collection and it is hoped that they will be filled by purchase and donation.

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Piranesi

Twelve original Piranesi prints were donated to the University Library by Charles Brasch, poet and first editor of the New Zealand literary quarterly Landfall. To supplement these visually attractive etchings, books about Piranesi are often purchased. This Taschen edition is one, and with coverage of Piranesi's complete etchings, it is a valuable resource book.

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List of Piranesi prints held in Special Collections

The Divine Sarah

This 1907 English translation of the original two volume French edition of Sarah Bernhardt's Memoirs suffers from silent omissions and censorship cuts. It does however convey a full life of the Divine Sarah: childhood, Paris, the amputation, anorexia, the lovers and her stage craft. Of her story she said:

‘I know that I'm wandering from the story of my life and getting bogged down in pointless digressions that probably wouldn't stand up to close scrutiny anyway. Besides, who knows whether I'm lying or telling the truth … I'm not even sure I know myself … I'm a woman of the theatre, remember? And even if I weren't, I'm someone for whom truth resides in the probable or the credible, and in certain instances in the genuine.'

This is a recent transfer from general stack.

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