Real Gold on offer at Central City Library

From City Scene, published on 11 November, 2007

Find some treasures - The Central City Library's Real Gold exhibition is a great chance to sample some of the treasures held in Auckland City Libraries' Special Collections.

The Central City Library's Real Gold exhibition is a great chance to sample some of the treasures held in Auckland City Libraries' Special Collections. The special collections are a unique, reference-only resource of books, manuscripts, maps and photographs that require care because of their uniqueness, rarity, value or condition. Since the Central City Library based collections were begun in 1879, they have grown significantly. This is often thanks to the generosity of numerous donors, including Sir George Grey - former Governor of New Zealand.

The Rossdhu Book of Hours (right) - one of the items in Real Gold - was produced by a workshop in the southern Netherlands during the last quarter of the fifteenth century. It was one of several medieval manuscripts that Sir George Grey purchased in 1863 from London booksellers Thomas and William Boone. It was amongst the first consignment of precious books that he donated to the Library in 1887.