The latest Reed Gallery exhibition Treasury of Pacific Exploration: Voyaging Literature from the McNab Collection, showcases a wide range of print materials focusing on the discovery of New Zealand by Pacific Island voyagers, and contemporary accounts of the later voyages of discovery to the Pacific by European explorers.
A sub-grouping of the McNab New Zealand Collection, known as the Voyages Collection, comprises some 380 volumes containing accounts of early European voyages of discovery to the Pacific. Engaged in the work of researching southern New Zealand history prior to 1840, Robert McNab (1864-1917) began collecting his ‘Voyages’ titles to provide material for his historical investigations. These books formed part of his original gift to the Dunedin Public Library in 1913.
The McNab Collection also includes numerous books, dating from the nineteenth century to the present day, about the discovery of New Zealand by skilful Pacific Island voyagers – and some of these titles formed part of McNab’s donation. Robert McNab died at the comparatively young age of 52 in 1917, but later purchases and donations have ensured that the McNab Collection remains a significant repository of New Zealand-related voyaging literature.
The Voyages Collection is a significant research collection containing scarce titles written primarily in English and French, some with striking maps and illustrations. These include multi-volume sets, government-sponsored expedition reports and single volumes dating from the late seventeenth to the early twentieth century, as well as early editions covering the voyages of James Cook. Books about Polynesian voyaging in the Pacific include Peter Buck’s Vikings of the Sunrise and Joan Druett’s biography of Cook’s Polynesian navigator Tupaia, whose remarkable skills and geographical knowledge were utilised during the voyage of the Endeavour.