Story: Collecting

George Grey's medieval manuscripts

George Grey's medieval manuscripts

George Grey, politician and twice governor of New Zealand, amassed a substantial collection of manuscripts, rare books, letters, art, photographs and ephemera relating to New Zealand and a host of other countries during his lifetime. In 1887 he donated around 8,000 volumes to the Auckland Public Library. The library's Sir George Grey Special Collection eventually numbered some 14,000 items, and it holds 27 of Grey's medieval manuscripts, which date from the 12th to the 15th centuries. Here, special-collections librarian Georgia Prince carefully prepares a French missal (book containing the texts used in the Mass) printed about 1471 for an exhibition at the library.

Using this item

New Zealand Herald
Reference: 071107NZHMSLIBRARY1.JPG
Photograph by Martin Sykes

Permission of the New Zealand Herald must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page:

Richard Wolfe, 'Collecting - Notable collectors', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/37316/george-greys-medieval-manuscripts (accessed 19 March 2024)

Story by Richard Wolfe, published 5 Sep 2013