Sir Russell Drysdale's Gift of Rare Books. [Donation].
Summary
This item is one of our 50 Treasures: Celebrating 50 years of James Cook University.
Dr. Nathan Garvey answers the question 'Why is this significant?'
In 1971, soon after James Cook University's establishment, the eminent artist Sir Russell Drysdale donated a small but significant collection of rare books to the University Library. The inelegant, mimeographed donation labels affixed to the flyleaves of each of the 56 volumes rather understate the value of the gift Drysdale bestowed on JCU.
The Drysdale gift represents a carefully cultivated selection of some of the rarest works of print Australiana, in the form of contemporary published accounts of early European exploration and incursions in the Pacific. The nine volumes comprising the 'official' narratives of Cook's voyages (published 1773-1784) are perhaps the centerpiece, but there are other notable titles, including Flinders' Voyage to Terra Australis (1814), Bligh's account of the Bounty expedition (somewhat delayed, 1792), and a 1729 collection of voyage narratives that included Dampier's travels. All the major published accounts of the First Fleet voyage are here, as are rare examples of spurious (plagiarised) First Fleet narratives. Aside from the voyage narratives, there are early accounts of inland exploration, and several ethnographic works from the later nineteenth century.
Drysdale inscribed his books with the same neat signature he applied to his artworks. In roughly half the books in JCU's Drysdale gift, he also added a date—apparently of acquisition. From this, it appears that the bulk of Drysdale's collecting took place from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, in Sydney. The books remain in remarkably good condition, and the artist clearly had an eye for quality bindings and fine copies. Drysdale was a noted bibliophile, but his papers reveal that his rare book collecting was influenced by his friendship with the colourful art dealer Rex Nan Kivell, director of the Redfern Gallery in London. The Redfern Gallery championed postwar modernist artists and, for Drysdale, Nan Kivell seems also to have served as a mentor and nexus between the worlds of contemporary art and antiquarian book collecting.
Drysdale's connections with north Queensland are well known. He spent part of his childhood at Pioneer, on the Burdekin, where the family owned a historic sugar plantation; in later life Drysdale spoke of Pioneer as his 'spiritual home'. Rare books from the early period of European contact with Australasia continue to hold a strong cultural cachet, and Drysdale's donation seems designed to help the new university establish an outstanding collection of national significance. His gift remains one of JCU Library's great treasures.
List of books gifted by Sir Russell Drysdale to the James Cook University Library Special Collections
Additional Information
Dr. Nathan Garvey completed a PhD on early Australian book history at the University of Sydney in 2007. He held postdoctoral research positions at the University of Queensland (2010-2015), and University College, Dublin (2016-2018), and library fellowships at the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. He is currently a Research and Data Repository Officer within JCU's Library and Information Services team.
Collection access: Special Collection items may be used on the Library premises by visiting the appropriate Reading Rooms during opening hours. Digital copies of selected items from the special collections will be made available through the repository as copyright or other restrictions allow.
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