Special Collections, University of Otago Library

New Exhibition in the de Beer Gallery opened today (8 May-28 August)
Set TXTS: The not-so-secret reading habits of Uni students
For previous generations, it was unavoidable – you needed to read books to get a degree. Set TXTS begins here and explores the not-so-secret reading habits of Uni students, past and present.

The de Beer Gallery and Special Collections will be closed next week from Monday 19th to Friday 23rd January. They will reopen at 9am on Monday 26th January.

Image: Floriated initial from Roma vetus ac recens : utriusque aedificiis ad eruditam cognitionem expositis / auctore Alexandro Donato Senensi e Societate Iesu. de Beer Collection, Itb 1639 D. Special Collections, Te Pātaka Mātauraka University Library, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka

The de Beer Gallery and Special Collections will be closing for the year at 5pm on Paraire 19 Tīhema Friday 19th December, and reopening again o Mane 5 Hanuere Monday 5 January.

Staff at Special Collections wish you all a happy, hopeful and rejuvenating holiday season, and we look forward to seeing you in the new calendar year.

Jane Austen at 250 – and the ‘perils’ of reading: Novelist Jane Austen’s 250th birthday is 16 December. As an homage to Austen, I have just read her first completed novel Northanger Abbey (1817), which I failed to finish in seventh form English (sorry Mr McKay), as well as browsing Special Collections for relevant background reading to this coming-of-age satire.

'Northanger Abbey' follows the evolution of 17-year-old ingénue and avid reader Catherine Morland during her stay in the fashionable town of Bath, and her subsequent visit to Northanger Abbey in Gloucestershire.

Austen began writing 'Northanger Abbey' in the 1790s, when Bath was a trendy health resort and a mecca for matrimonial matches. 'A new guide through Bath and its environs' (1811) by Richard Warner, in the de Beer collection, is an example of the tourist guides published for the thousands who flocked to the spa town in the Regency period.

The book’s title is the clue to Austen's meta-fictional preoccupation: gothic novels and their reception – and the perils of novel-reading generally. Conventionally, gothic novels were set in spooky derelict castles or gloomy ruined abbeys (which ironically is not true of the book’s titular setting). Horace Walpole’s 'The castle of Otranto' (1764) is said to be the first example of this genre; a copy of the third edition (1769) is in the de Beer collection.

The impact of Ann Radcliffe’s 'The mysteries of Udolpho' from 1794 (a first edition is in the de Beer collection), on the impressionable Catherine is central to 'Northanger Abbey'. Catherine’s naivety and her uncritical reading of 'Udolpho' and other gothic novels shapes her friendships with two pairs of siblings: the social-climbing Isabella and John Thorpe and the cultured Eleanor and Henry Tilney (whose family owns Northanger Abbey).

Of course, love and sense prevail in the end, with the engagement of Catherine and Henry culminating the novel’s marriage plot.

Illustrations
Warner, R. (1811). 'A new guide through Bath and its environs'. R. Cruttwell.
Walpole, H. (1769). 'The castle of Otranto, : a Gothic story'. (The 3rd ed.). Printed for John Murray, ...
Radcliffe, A., & Radcliffe, A. W. (1794). 'The mysteries of Udolpho : a romance, interspersed with some pieces of poetry' ([1st ed.].). Printed for G.G. and J. Robinson.

Looking forward to welcoming scholars and colleagues from throughout Australasia to Ōtepoti Dunedin for next week's The Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand conference 'Whose Work is it Anyway?'. Starting on Tuesday 18th November, it's set to be a full and fascinating few days of papers and discussions around historical and contemporary print culture -

Whose Work Is It Anyway? - BSANZ 2025 Conference "Whose Work Is It Anyway?” explores the reality that books are most often collaborative enterprises, not just effusions of a lone author.

Dr Sue Wootton, Publisher at Otago University Press gave a great interview about the his- and her-stories of Landfall Journal on the Heritage Matters show, OAR FM Dunedin - Community Access Media last week. She talks about the origins and history of the journal and its contemporary interations, together with a recommendation to visit the LFT 250 exhibition.

The exhibition is on now in the de Beer Gallery, Monday to Friday 9:30am - 5pm, and runs until February 27th 2026.

Heritage Matters - Otago Access Radio Explore the wonderful stock of historic buildings, and stories of early European settlement, Maori life in past centuries and tales of gold.

Someone typed us a new poem for the exhibition! Thanks anon!

Great to celebrate the launch of the 250th issue of Landfall Tauraka and the opening of the Landfall Tauraka exhibition in the University Library's de Beer Gallery last Thursday evening. Congrats to Otago University Press and thanks to the Vice-Chancellor for his inspiring words. Photographs by Murray Eskdale.

SPECIAL EXTENDED WEEKEND OPENING HOURS FOR DUNEDIN WRITERS & READERS FESTIVAL: Sat 18 & Sun 19 10am-4pm

The painting rig has been back in the gallery this week - another colour scheme that demands attention. Our new exhibition opens in 4 weeks on 17 October. More to come ...