Description
Dramatic views of rugged New Zealand landscapes. Each is accompanied by a separate page of text that originally accompanied the prints, containing a few paragraphs that describe the geologic features of each place.
Johann Franz Julius von Haast, an explorer and geologist, was the founder of the Canterbury Museum in New Zealand. Born in Bonn, Germany, he earned a degree in geology at the university there, and then worked in the book trade. In 1858, he arrived in New Zealand to scout opportunities for German immigration. He soon began doing geologic assessments for the provinical governments there, looking for areas where it was likely that mineral deposits could be found. In his capacity as provinical geologist for Canterbury, he traveled up the main rivers of the region to their sources and explored the area around Mount Cook, and parts of the West Coast. His reports included maps and illustrations of new plants and features. Several are named after him, including Haast Pass. He became the first professor of geology at the University of New Zealand in 1876 and was awarded a gold medal from the Royal Geographic Society in 1884. His museum was well-regarded internationally.
John Gully was a watercolorist born in England, who emigrated to New Zealand in the 1850s. He was the subject of a biography published in 2001 (see below). The Suter, a museum in New Zealand, has a large collection of his landscape watercolors.
Condition: Generally very good with the usual light toning, wear, soiling, soft creases, scattered short marginal tears.
References:
“John Gully, Painter” New Zealand: Transpress Books, 2001. Online at http://transpressbooks.homestead.com/JohnGully.html
“The Suter.” 2002. http://thesuter.org.nz/collections.html
“Von Haast and the Canterbury Museum.” Christchurch City Libraries. http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Childrens/EarlyChristchurch/VonHaastandhisMuseum.asp
