A two-panel hand-painted illuminated address presented to Joseph T. Hollow on the occasion of his retirement as Medical Superintendent at the Kew Mental Hospital in January 1938
Folio (357 × 255 mm); gilt-tooled full green morocco, with the two panels of the address mounted on the inside surfaces within inner gilt dentelles; boards slightly worn at the corners and a little bowed; addresses slightly marked; in very good condition.
The left-hand panel of the diptych contains the address (dated '8.1.38'), while the right-hand panel lists some 124 staff of the Kew Mental Hospital (medical and administrative staff, attendants, nurses, and artisans). The address to Dr Hollow states in part 'We trust that he will find his New Environment pleasantly interesting, and that it will bring to him and his family Health, Happiness and Contentment'. These sentiments were perhaps a little too sanguine: after retiring from Kew at the age of 60, Dr Hollow (1878-1942) took up the post of superintendent of the Ararat Mental Hospital ... Offered together with a group of Hollow family correspondence, photographs and ephemera. It comprises: fourteen passionate love letters exchanged between Dr Hollow and his fiancée Ruby Berrie in the months prior to their marriage in November 1904 (all in original covers); ten letters addressed to Ruby (as Miss Berrie or Mrs Hollow), and one to Dr Hollow (all in original covers); three small photographs (two identified as Joseph Hollow and one as Ruby Berrie, 1904); and a dozen other ephemeral items including invitations, programmes (including two for the fifth and sixth annual corrobborees of the 'Woë-Worung Club', Fitzroy, an interesting appropriation of the Woiwurrung culture of the Melbourne area), In Memoriam cards, and a small notebook. [Approximately 35 items].
Item #146485
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