New Zealand Journal of Botany abstracts

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The "blue books" of H. B. Dobbie and Eric Craig

J. D. McCRAW*

Department of Earth Sciences
University of Waikato
New Zealand
*Present address: 25 Silverdale Rd, Hamilton,
New Zealand

Abstract H. B. Dobbie, author of "New Zealand Ferns"(1921a),hadpreviouslyproducedin 1880-81, three versions of a hand-made book of fern illustra- tions. A somewhat similar book was produced eight years later by Eric Craig in two editions. All of these are often referred to as "blue books" because the pages have full-sized, white silhouettes of ferns on a blue background. Details are given of how these books were probably made and the number produced is estimated. Of the 14 copies known to have survived, eleven are in New Zealand libraries, one in an overseas library and two in private hands.

Keywords Dobbie, H. B.; Craig, E.; New Zealand ferns; blue books

Received 18 October 1988; accepted 9 January 1989
New Zealand Journal of Botany, 1989, Vol. 27: 347-351
0028-825X89/2703-0347-$2.50/0 © Crown Copyright 1989

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (863K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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