A collection of 114 signatures of (mainly) Australian authors, many of them household names of the 1950s and 1960s
The signatures are written on the front endpaper and verso of the front free endpaper of 'Ships in Australian Waters. A Pictorial History from the Days of the Early Explorers to the Present Time' by Peter Williams and Roderick Serle (Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1968: cloth lightly rubbed, with a few small tape-stains to the rear cover, rear endpaper and front pastedown, but overall a very good copy lacking the dustwrapper). The signatures include Patsy Adam-Smith, Geoffrey Blainey, C. Warren Bonython, John Bray, Hedley Brideson, Hesba Brinsmead, David Campbell, Nancy Cato, Don Charlwood, C.B. Christensen, Mavis Thorpe Clark, Beatrice Davis (the editor), Bruce Dawe, Nell Dowd, Mary Durack (Miller), Geoffrey Dutton, Brian Elliott, Max Fatchen, Max Harris, Bernard Hesling, Ernestine Hill, Flexmore Hudson, Hal Lindsay, Hans Mincham, Tony Morphett, Charles Mountford, Ian Mudie, Stephen Murray-Smith, Hal Porter, A. Grenfell Price, Archbishop T.T. Reed, Betty Roland, Tom Ronan, Olaf Ruhen, W.M. Scott, Douglas Stewart, Dal Stivens, T.G.H. Strehlow, Kylie Tennant, Colin Thiele, Judah Waten, and Judith Wright. Mounted on the front flyleaf is an original colour photograph (145 × 106 mm) of Colin Thiele, flanked by Ian Mudie, presenting a book - probably this one - to a woman we believe to be Cynthia Fleming, personal assistant to five state librarians (1956 to 1994). The first signature on the main page is that of Hedley Brideson (1910-2003), 'Principal (later State) Librarian of the Public (later State) Library of South Australia from 1955 until his early retirement on medical invalidity in 1970' (Obituaries, Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 34:3). We suggest the presentation took place between the date of publication of the gift book (1968) and Brideson's retirement in 1970, probably at the State Library, possibly during Writer's Week at the Adelaide Festival of Arts in 1968 or 1970.
Item #136737
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