Case 6
- Regional history
James McNeish. Tavern in the Town. Wellington: Reed, 1957.
First published by Reed in 1957, Tavern in the Town was the first significant work by New Zealand author James McNeish (1931-2016). As a young Auckland journalist, McNeish travelled the country visiting hotels and seeking long-buried tales from old identities, in between delving into newspaper files and library archives.
The jacket design by Dennis Knight Turner (1924-2011) is a fine example of the artist’s subtle humour, with the louche and portly gold prospectors approaching in the foreground.
R.G. Wood. From Plymouth to New Plymouth. Wellington: Reed, 1959.
A.H.& A.W. Reed published a number of local New Zealand histories including Russell George Wood’s account of the establishment of the Taranaki settlement. The jacket design is by Dennis Beytagh, whose talent for creating thematic relationships between text and illustration is apparent in the hourglass on the cover which speaks of the trickling progress of migration.
--Hamish Thompson. Coverup: the art of the book cover in New Zealand. Auckland: Godwit, 2007.
Basil H. Howard. Rakiura: a history of Stewart Island, New Zealand. Dunedin: A.H. & A.W. Reed, for the Stewart Island Centennial Committee, 1940.
Rakiura is the centennial history of Stewart Island published in 1940, written by Basil Howard (1898-1974), a local historian and teacher at King’s High School, Dunedin. The jacket design is by Frederick Vincent Ellis (1892-1961), an artist and art teacher known for his stained-glass window designs.
Basil H. Howard. Rakiura: a history of Stewart Island, New Zealand. Dunedin: A.H. & A.W. Reed, for the Stewart Island Centennial Committee, 1940.
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Pat Lawlor. Old Wellington days. Wellington: Whitcombe & Tombs, 1959.
Pat Lawlor (1893-1979) was a New Zealand journalist, editor, author, and bibliophile. His autobiographical reminiscences of the Wellington of his younger years, Old Wellington days, was his most popular work, and remains a valuable anecdotal record of the capital’s life in the early 20th century.
Mona Tracy. West Coast yesterdays. Wellington: Reed, 1960.
Author Mona Tracy travelled throughout the West Coast region in the 1920s-1930s collecting stories from those still living who remembered the days of the great goldrushes. Written for the centenary of the West Coast goldrush, this history also details the building of the Otira Tunnel.
The jacket design is by Dennis Beytagh, of whom Hamish Thompson writes: “Beytagh’s sophisticated draughtsmanship and the charm and vigour of his designs always serve the sense of a book and the action on its pages.”
--Hamish Thompson. Coverup: the art of the book cover in New Zealand. Auckland: Godwit, 2007.
A.W. Reed. Legends of Rotorua and the hot lakes. Wellington: Reed, 1958.
Reading tastes were changing in the postwar years and with Whitcombe and Tombs in decline, Clif Reed saw a gap in the market to exploit. Practical middle-brow fare was in vogue: books about New Zealand life, farming, local histories, and wildlife sold well. Reed’s focus became increasingly nationalistic and indigenous - there was a distinct market for Māori stories.
Legends of Rotorua was one of numerous such publications by Reed. Dennis Knight Turner was especially commissioned for the illustrations and jacket design.
Eugene and Valerie Grayland. Tarawera. Auckland: Hodder & Stoughton, 1971.
The striking jacket design of this history of the 1886 Tarawera eruption is by Peter Gossage (1946-), a well-known author and illustrator of children’s books on Māori myths and legends.
