Cabinet 08
One occasional feature of any collection of pamphlets is the often irregular formats sewn together to form a bound volume. Here the Melbourne produced ‘complete guide’ titled Otago; Its Gold-fields & Resources (1862) sits between John Cargill’s Information for the Guidance of Intending Emigrants (1860) and the Dunedin issue of W. Lauder Lindsay’s The Place and Power of Natural History in Colonization (1862). Dr Hocken arrived in Dunedin from Melbourne in February 1862; perhaps he carried the above copy of the ‘Otago’ guide with him.
Otago; Its Goldfields & Resources. Melbourne: W. H. Williams, 1862. Vol. 6, no. 10. Hocken Pamphlet Collection.
Dr Hocken was determined to establish ownership of his books. He usually signed his name three times in a single publication, often pasted in an ex libris (bookplate) or a green hei-tiki label, and then used a specially designed hei-tiki stamp. The title-page of the Plan of the Association for Founding the Settlement of Canterbury (1848) carries two of these provenance features. He was also an inveterate scribbler, writing notes in his books that helped clarify specific points on the publication or its author. Above his hand-written contents page is information about the publication priorities of this particular work.
Plan of the Association for Founding the Settlement of Canterbury in New Zealand. London: John W. Parker, 1848. Vol. 31, no. 1. Hocken Pamphlet Collection.
‘The object of this paper is to shew that God’s kingdom is come, and soon will be set up, or established on this earth, however much that event may be doubted or opposed.’ So begins William Blackwell’s God’s Reign on Earth, or Social Science and Christian Government (1889), which is an attack on established banking systems and land monopolists. Blackwell was a ‘Modern Berean’, a mix of a Protestant sect following the Scottish Presbyterian minister John Barclay (1734-1798) with tenets from the American Christadelphian Dr John Thomas. God’s Reign on Earth was Blackwell’s only publication and it was printed locally. The printer has used multiple typefaces and a decorative frame on the title-page, a feature common to many pamphlets.
William Blackwell, God’s Reign on Earth, or Social Science and Christian Government. Dunedin: Published by the Author, 1889. Vol. 53, no. 14. Hocken Pamphlet Collection.