Special Collections

Petr Herel collection of Artists' Books and Limited Editions Portfolios

This collection comprises works created in the Graphic Investigation Workshop (1978-1998), initially instigated at Canberra School of Art by its former director, Udo Sellbach. Petr Herel, who was appointed Head of GIW in 1979, developed the workshop curriculum and lead the workshop throughout its 20 years of existence.

The four main and interrelated components in the Workshop's curriculum were drawing, the printed image, papermaking and typography. Drawing was seen as central to the investigative process. This particular focus provided an ideal situation for the development of the Artist Book in the Workshop's practice.
The 250 items in the collection were donated to the Workshop by the staff and students of GIW and in 1998 the archive of Artists' books was transferred to the Australian National University Library's Rare Books Collection housed in the Menzies Building. A comprehensive list of items held is now available in two parts. Part I covers Item Nos.1-120 and Part II covers Item Nos.121-250.

A Web site includes a history of the workshop, information on the books and a selection of images from works in the collection.

Mortlake collection of nineteenth century literature: this collection consists of approximately ten thousand volumes and covers almost all fields of interest since it represents all types of material read in England during the Victorian age. The collection is particularly strong in yellow-backs (the 'railway novels' of the end of the 19th century), in the 'sensation novels' published by Minerva Press, in Gothic novels and in children's literature.

La Nauze collection: this is a collection of over 500 volumes on political economy containing many early works in this field including a first edition of Adam Smith's "An Inquiry with the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nation", 1776.

Brissenden collection: this collection is being developed by the Friends of the Library as a memorial to R.F. Brissenden (1928-1991), one of Australia's best known literary figures and a former Reader of English at ANU. The collection field is Australian literature, with an emphasis on first and signed editions.

Joseph Needham collection: this small collection of Chinese books and serials on mathematics and physics is located in the Hancock Library. Brief romanized catalogue entries are available on the library catalogue. For full cataloguing details, including Chinese script entries, the East Asian card catalogue needs to be consulted.

Kapper collection: the Shirley Kapper collection of approximately 1250 volumes reflects the selection available on the shelves of a small town Australian bookshop about 50 years ago. The collection includes: adult novels, classics in cheap editions, school textbooks and children's fiction dating from c. 1885 to c. 1925.

Another special collection is the Kohler collection of Edwardian novels.

Most special collections are recorded on the library catalogue, the library catalogue. If you require help with collections not listed on the library catalogue, please contact the Collection Management Librarian, Social Sciences and Humanities at 6125 8528.