NZ History

The story of the country's prehistory, reconstructing from archeological evidence a picture of how the first people lived and died. The emphasis is on food and clothing, work, burial customs and disease and death.

Government Print, Wellington, 1989. Hardback with dust jacket. 128 pages. SECONDHAND

THE PENGUIN FIELD GUIDE TO NEW ZEALAND ARCHAEOLOGY. Begins with a general history of archaeology in New Zealand, and description of sites such as pa, pits, middens, umu, redoubts and mines. Part two is divided into regions, covering sites of Maori origin to later nineteenth-century industrial archaeology including coal and goldmining.

Penguin. Softback, illustrated, 262 pages. NEW

A comprehensive and accessible history of New Zealand presented as 13 chapters by different authors. Accompanied the 13 part television series of the same name. Well illustrated.

Hodder Moa, Auckland, 2005. Hardback with dust jacket in matching slip case. 416 pages. NEW

An illustrated history of exploration in North and South Islands by one of New Zealand's best known mountaineers.

A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1971. Hardback with dust jacket. 140 pages. SECONDHAND

Discusses the likely nature of the 'Fleet' that brought the first Polynesians and also provides facinating insights into the nature of the European missionaries, scientists, surveyors and farmers who came next.

Century Hutchinson NZ Ltd., Auckland, 1988. Hardback with dust jacket. 315 pages. SECONDHAND

The Romance of a Pro Consul being the Personal Life and Memoirs of the Right Hon Sir George Grey. Special edition for sale only in the British Colonies. Published by Chatto and Windus, 1899.

Chatto & Windus. Hardback, illustrated, 214 pages. SECONDHAND

Helen Beaglehole's Lighting the Coast is the first comprehensive history of New Zealand's system of 'well placed and effective' lighthouses that were essential for 'the great maritime future' the government envisaged. It also reveals much about the lives of the lighthouse keepers and their families who chose to live in the most remote parts of the country.

Canterbury University Press. Hardback. 352 pages. NEW.

ALWAYS THE SOUND OF THE SEA. The Daily Lives of New Zealand's Lighthouse Keepers. Drawing on a rich and intriguing mix of letters, diary extracts, official correspondence and interviews, from an 1872 diary to interviews with the last of the lighghouse keepers themselves, Helen Beaglehole brings together accounts of the life and work of these resourceful New Zealanders. Illustrated.

Craig Potton Publishing. Softback. 264 pages. NEW. 

Traces the way in which electricity has completely changed the way people live and work, also the story of of the men and women who through 100 years, planned and worked to bring power to the people.

Electricity Supply Association of New Zealand, Wellington, 1989. Hardback with dust jacket. 256 pages. SECONDHAND

CONNECTING THE COUNTRY. New Zealand's National Grid 1886-2007. This book tells the story of the development of the national grid from the earliest days and the engineers, surveyors, linemen and operators who made it possible.

Steele Roberts. Hardback. 376 pages. NEW.

NEW ZEALAND CENTENNIAL 1840-1940. A booklet produced by the N.Z. Department of Tourist and Publicty to celebrate the country's centennial in 1940. Wellington, 1940.

Official Record of the and South Seas International Exhibition Dunedin 1925-1926. Issued by the  South Seas Exhibition Company Ltd. Contains detailed description of each of the courts that made up the exhibition. Dunedin Coulls Somerville Wilkie Ltd, 1926 (Bagnall T351). Numerous illustrations, including panorama pull-outs of the exhibition buildings, and the art galleries, some foxing.

Coulls, Somerville & Wilkie. Hardback. 168 pages. SECONDHAND

Old South. Life and Times in the Nineteenth-Century Mainland. A history of New Zealand's South Island. 

Penguin. Softcovers, 344 pages. NEW

Making Peoples. A History of the New Zealanders from Polynesian Settlement to the end of Nineteenth Century. 

Penguin. Softcovers, 497 pages. NEW

The Chinese have been the largest non-European and non-Polynesian ethnic group in New Zealand since the 1860s. This collection of essays provides an overview of the history and experience of the Chinese in New Zealand to the present day.

Auckland University Press, 2003. Softback. 304 pages. SECONDHAND

Gold for the Taking by Sandy and Judy Fairservice. A practical guide to finding and keeping gold in New Zealand.

Halcyon Press. Softcovers, illustrated, 112 pages. NEW

The story of the boom and bust industries and the towns that sprang up overnight to service them. Usually with too may pubs and newspapers they were towns of whaling, gold, kauri, coal and gum and also railhead towns, flax towns and others; all are no more.

A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1980. Hardback with dust jacket. 248 pages. SECONDHAND

The Southern Cross and the Southern Crown or The Gospel in New Zealand by Miss Tucker. A history of the Church Missionary Society and other missionaries in New Zealand. 2nd edition, London, James Nisbet and Co, 1855. Frontispeace of a Maori chief lying in state at Waikanae. Spine bumped and previous owner's name clipped from front endpaper.

James Nisbet & Co. Hardback, illustrated, map, 263 pages. SECONDHAND

Personal studies of the colonial lives of 54 women of the Wairarapa, Hawke's Bay and Poverty Bay areas including Maori and pakeha, British and Scandanavian, married and single and well off and poor. A sminal work of colonial history. Published 1973, this is the 1978 reprint.

A.W. & A.W. Reed, Wellington. Hardback with dust jacket. 264 pages. SECONDHAND

The personal stories of 40 pioneer women of the south island from Nelson to the Bluff. Third volume in the Petticoat Pioneer series. Published 1980.

A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington. Hardback with dust jacket. 248 pages. SECONDHAND 

Being a Record of His Experiences, of His Shipwreck, and of His Many Escapes From Death During Fortyfour Years of Wandering Adventures by Land and Sea. Includes his description of colonial life 1887 to 1932 in the Pacific, Australia and Ngaruawahia, Waikato River, North Cape, Lake Wairarapa, Auckland Islands, Koputaroa, Manawatu, Rangitane, Dunedin, Russell, Dargaville, Greymouth, Waikaremoana and New Plymouth.

Hodder and Stoughton. Hardback with worn dustjacket. 254 Pages. SECONDHAND

Documents the 'hardware' of the 1923-1960 period and also documents something of the history of radio manufacturing in New Zealand.

Craigs Publishing, Invercargill, 1986. Hardback with dust jacket. 163 pages. AS NEW

Commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Dominion Sawmillers' Federation, 1917 to 1967, this history describes the pioneering days of the sawmill industry through to wartime demands, and everything from insect control to industrial relations. Cover stained but intact.

Sawmillers Federation. Softcovers. Illustrated. 195 Pages. SECONDHAND.

A tribute to the sheep, to the farmers and their working dogs, and to those who process and market the fine end-products-prime meat, and spendid wool. A great story and one well told by a shrewd observer.

A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1966. Hardback with dust jacket. 223 pages. SECONDHAND

This is a history of amateur radio in New Zealand from spark transmitters and crystal sets to space communications.

NZ Association of Radio Transmitters, Wellington, 1997. Softback. 297 pages. SECONDHAND

Nineteenth century South Island, a land of opportunity, or province of a rich and powerful elite who carefully nurtured an order of startling social inequality? The story of the landed gentry.

A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1980. Hardback with dust jacket. 192 pages, SECONDHAND

The dramatic and colourful story of the revenue officers and the New Zealand Customs Department, the first and most pervasive government department at the forefront of the country's development.

NZ Customs Department, Wellington, 1991. Hardback with dust jacket. 207 pages. SECONDHAND

A social history of the formative years in New Zealand 1890-1976. The author describes this period as the country's real nineteenth century.

Beaux Arts Ltd., Auckland, 1976. Softback. 155 pages. SECONDHAND

A lively, well researched, and interesting text presents the story of hot springs and spas throughout the country. Many of them were popular over 100 years ago but are now all but forgotten.

Government Printing Office, Wellington, 1986. Softback. 195 pages. SECONDHAND

The story of tourism in New Zealand from 1870 through to the end of the twentieth century. Government was the prime mover in the development of the main sites, Rotorua, the Hermitage, the Chateau and Milford.

Auckland University Press, 2004. Softback. 318 pages. SECONDHAND

Recounts and assesses an emblematic moment in New Zealand history, the 1940 Centennial was celebrated as a national comming of age with a popular exhibition held in Wellington and much pride shown in achievements since 1840, summed up as a hundred crowded years.

Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2004. Softback. 294 pages. SECONDHAND

A general history of the Scots in New Zealand from earliest times. The Scottish influence in the country is profound, perhaps more so than anywhere else outside Scotland.

William Collins (NZ) Ltd., Auckland, 1976. Hardback with dust jacket. 240 pages. SECONDHAND