First held in 2012, the Melbourne Rare Book Week is an annual celebration of “the importance of books, publishing, book production and collecting” as proudly declared by its official website.
Taking place from Thursday 24 July to Saturday 2 August, this year’s program offers 46 events across the city, covering a wide range of free talks, workshops, exhibitions and tours on book-related topics for all tastes.
As usual, the bookish week is heralded by State Library Victoria’s “World of the Book” exhibition, which marks its 20th anniversary this year.
The more than 300 historically significant items on display showcase the history of book design, production and illustration throughout the past four centuries.
Next, the Parliament Library – the second oldest library in our state – will introduce “William Strutt’s Victoria the Golden”, a collection of sketches that captured events in the colony from the gold rush to the departure of the Burke and Wills expedition.
The History Council of Victoria’s “Hearing the News” event will explain how the happenings of the pre-modern world were conveyed to the commoners by ballad singers, pamphleteers and public orators. Meanwhile, Museums Victoria’s “Women in Natural History” event will explore the work of past and contemporary female natural history artists.
Also worth noting is the “Mysteries with History” event, where a panel of Melbourne crime writers will “delve into the swirl of history, murder and intrigue”.
Equally interesting is the “Joseph Furphy on Settler Violence” event, which will discuss the author’s admiration for the Indigenous people and his resistance against race-based prejudice.
Other fascinating events include “Scapegoats of the Empire”, which will examine the memoir of George Witton, the third defendant in the military trial for murder brought against Breaker Morant and Peter Hancock; and “From Convict Printers to Book Arcades”, which will shed light on Australia’s contribution to a unique international project seeking to document global histories of the book.
A special children-focused event is “Come into Moominland”, which will explore the world of Moomintroll, Snork Maiden and Snukkin created by Finnish author and illustrator Tove Jansson.
Another artistic event is “Travelling to Art”, which will investigate the art of creating travel diaries combining memory and imagination.
Finally, two particular events caught this reviewer’s eye, with the first being “The Archaeology of an Archive”, which will tackle the myriad ways in which researchers and creators can find inspirations in retained materials and their “preserved patterns”.
The other event is “Le Mort or La Mort”, which will scrutinise the origins and cultural context of the Danse Macabré.
The “Melbourne Rare Book Week” program concludes with the Melbourne Rare Book Fair at the University of Melbourne’s Wilson Hall, which will run from Thursday 31 July to Saturday 2 August.
More details can be found at: rarebooksmelbourne.com/events-2/
