(issued September 2003)
WALLACE KIRSOP, Foreword
WALLACE KIRSOP, The State Library of Victoria and its French Collections
This text gives an account the history of the State Library of Victoria’s collections, with special reflection on the French and foreign language collections. It is the first in a series on the resources available here and details the evolution of the Library and its ethos, with its initial inspiration under Redmond Barry being found in the British Museum and European University Libraries.
Keywords: State Library of Victoria, French collection, Redmond Barry
WALLACE KIRSOP, Visiting Mayfield
An account of a tour of Mayfield, the rural property in Mordialloc belonging to Francis de Castelnau, one of the more eminent French consuls in nineteenth-century Victoria. It prefigures a more substantial piece on Castelnau.
Keywords: Francis de Castelnau, Mayfield Open Day, French consul, nineteenth century
WALLACE KIRSOP, Death of a Bookseller
A brief account of one of the slightly less obscure booksellers William Ellis Bird, and his death after falling in a tram safety zone on Collins Street, witnessed by a car carrying not one but three consuls.
Keywords: William Ellis Bird, Antonia Grossardi, René Turck, Arthur Garrels
BOOK REVIEWS
Klaus Toft, The Navigators: Flinders v. Baudin. The Race between Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin to discover the fabled passage through the middle of Australia, reviewed by Elliott Forsyth
Paul Brunton (ed.), Matthew Flinders: Personal Letters from an Extraordinary Life, reviewed by Edward Duyker
Max Cramer, Treasures, Tragedies and Triumphs of the Batavia Coast: a True Story of Discovery and Adventure in the 20th Century, reviewed by Edward Duyker
Hendrik Kolenberg assisted by Patricia James, Lloyd Rees in Europe: Selected Drawings from his Sketchbooks in the Gallery’s Collection, reviewed by Edward Duyker
Georges Rigondet, Francois Piron, 1775-1810, et I’expédition du Commandant Nicolas Baudin: Les Fraçais à la découverte de l’Australie, reviewed by Edward Duyker
Amie Livingstone Stirling, Amie: Memories of an Australian Childhood, reviewed by Wallace Kirsop