This amusing account of family farming in North Auckland during the inter-war years contains the lively and expressive illustrations of Jack Morgan, whose drawings graced a number of similar New Zealand publications in the 1960s.
Hammond, Theodore Peter. This man's father had my father's farm. Wellington: Reed, 1966.
Open image in new window
Hot Water Sailor is a candid and humorous self-portrait by Denis Glover (1912-1980), copiously and not altogether flatteringly illustrated by his old friend Russell Clark (1905-1966).
The jacket design, also by Clark, is an example of his extraordinary versatility, wit, and invention. He is remembered today as a designer/illustrator for the Listener, the School Journal, and as the official war artist for the Pacific region during World War II.
Ron Bacon’s first novel is the semi-autobiographical story of a sole-charge schoolteacher and his wife living in a rural community in a remote New Zealand valley. Bacon writes in an authentic, demotic style including many rural idioms of the time, giving the yarns a rough-and-ready flavour well encapsulated by Kenneth Chapman’s jacket design.
The Sea is my Neighbour comprises the memoirs of a New Zealand lighthouse-keeper, Tom Clark. The jacket design by Dennis Beytagh (1924-2016) is a striking example of the artist’s ability to create dramatic interaction between text and illustration - both waves and lettering give the appearance of being windblown.
T.A. Clark. The sea is my neighbour: a lighthouse keeper's story. Christchurch: Whitcombe & Tombs, 1963.
Open image in new window
This lighthearted novel is based upon the author’s experiences living and working as a lighthouse-keeper in the Hauraki Gulf. The jacket design is by commercial artist Noel Arnott.
Freshwater admiral comprises the recollections of a distinguished English vice-admiral who, upon retirement, toured the North Island’s fishing districts, and was so impressed he settled near the Tongariro.
The dust jacket features the typically eye-catching artwork of Dennis Beytagh, whose hand-drawn lettering seems to bob on a watery background, whilst the uniform at rest and a bounty of mounted fish are suggestive of leisure and reward.
--Hamish Thompson. Coverup: the art of the book cover in New Zealand. Auckland: Godwit, 2007.
Harold Hickling. Freshwater admiral: fishing the Tongariro River and Lake Taupo. Wellington: Reed, 1960.
Open image in new window
