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Treasures from the Stacks 

Shirley Jones, Senior Library Assistant, Information Services —

Finding hidden gems in the library basement.

Did you know that we have a basement at the City Library where we store older non-fiction books that we want to keep for the future use of our customers? They are all on the catalogue and our staff on the Floor One desk are very happy to retrieve them for you. Let’s take a stroll through the shelves and I will highlight some of the interesting, delightful and unexpected books that can be found in the Lower Basement Stack.

Read about Erich von Daniken's aliens and Jung on Flying Saucers, and Bertrand Russell's thoughts on diverse subjects such as: In Praise of Idleness; Marriage and Morals; Mathematical Philosophy. The collected works of Madame Blavatsky are here for you to peruse, as are original works by Freud and Jung. There is a gorgeous wee volume entitled Why War? - an open letter by Einstein and Freud (1932). Katherine Mansfield spent the last 3 months of her life at Gurdjieff's "The Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man" at Fontainebleau-Avon: read Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson by Gurdjieff (1956) for some insight.

How much do you think has changed from Sue Kedgley's Sexist Society (1972)? Relive the importance of letters in Old Post Bags: the story of the sending of a letter in ancient and modern times (1928); be intrigued by books on The Divining Rod; delve into The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry (1911); and read Arthur Koestler's Reflections on Hanging (1956). The library has early works by Einstein too - Sidelights on Relativity (1922) is a treat.

There is a beautiful range of art books in stack. One of my favourites is Matisse by Pierre Schneider (1984). Le Costume Historique (6 volumes by Racinet, 1888) has glorious hand-painted plates. You will discover some culinary delights in Cosmopolitan Dishes for New Zealand Tables (1962), Entertaining with Kerr (1963), Alison Holst cookbooks from 1966 onward, and Hudson & Halls Cookbook (1977). Potato Growing in New Zealand by David Tannock (1922) may be more to your taste; or be shocked by some of the advice in Guide to Child Care by Benjamin Spock (1961), and Medical Practice in Otago and Southland in the Early Days (1922) will astonish you.

Who isn't interested in armchair travel? Try some older delights, such as Third-Class Ticket by Heather Wood (1980); Edward Lear in Southern Italy (1964); One Chilly Siberian Morning by Douglas Botting (1965); and, of course, our Lower Basement selection on early exploration in Antarctica is incredible. If you are interested in New Zealand history, you have so much to choose from! Nga Mahi a Nga Tupuna - stories written down by Maori friends of Sir George Grey, mostly before 1850; Forty Years in New Zealand by James Buller (1878); Anthony Trollope's Impressions of New Zealand in 1874; a plethora of wonderful old books on Captain Cook; or Early Days in Dunedin (1938).

There are some fabulous Big Books too: beautiful old atlases; Whole Earth catalogues from the 1970's; Raymond Ching's Bird Paintings (1978); A Treasury of Great Master Drawings (1975); Jane's Fighting Ships (from 1898 onward) - to name a few. Music Scores abound - try Elizabethean Love Songs (1909).

I hope I have whet your appetite for the appreciation of our treasured old books.