Old books, new technologies: The representation, conservation and transformation of books since 1700

摘要

The oldest book in the collection I currently manage, the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, is The description of a voyage made by certaine ships of Holland into the East Indies, printed in London in 1598. It is the primary account of the expedition that led to the formation of the Dutch East India Company and - by extension - the mapping by Abel Tasman of New Holland, Van Diemen's Land, and New Zealand. The Allport copy, one of only two in Australia, was purchased from the historian Boies Penrose (nephew of the notorious US Senator); previously, it belonged to the British collector H.G. Sotheby.