Guide to the Papers of Edward Augustus Petherick, 1756-1917

Request this via the Catalogue
 

Online content

Some materials from this collection are available online.
Show only online content

Online content

View online

Summary

Collection number:
MS 760 and MS Acc09.003
Creator:
Petherick, E.A. (Edward Augustus)
Extent:
11.57 metres and (16 archives boxes + 92 security binders + 1 volume [1 medium folio box] + 1 folio [1 large folio box SB-000143)] + 1 volume [1 small folio box SB-000142] + 1 folder [1 ms box] + 4 security binders + 1 elephant folio)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Edward Augustus Petherick, National Library of Australia, [class/series/file/item number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers are divided into two parts: Petherick's own papers, and letters, documents and transcriptions that he acquired.

Petherick's papers consist of family documents, general correspondence, drafts of articles and addresses on exploration and bibliophilism, correspondence and papers relating to the presentation of his collection to the Commonwealth and his subsequent work as an archivist, and the manuscript of his unpublished 'Bibliography of Australasia'.

Original documents, together with transcriptions Petherick made, relate to the discovery and settlement of Australia, 1756-1880. Many of the transcriptions draw on Spanish, French, Dutch and English sources and include many descriptions of early voyages. He also acquired letters and autographs of statesmen, travellers, and literary and military persons.

A number of manuscript items relating to Sir Joseph Banks have been transferred to the Banks Papers (MS 9). These items are identified by the symbol EAP in the descriptive list of Banks' papers.

In 2009, the deed of gift to the Commonwealth of Australia of an Australasian and Polynesian library was added to the collection.

Biographical / Historical:

Edward Augustus Petherick was a bookseller, publisher, bibliographer and book collector. He was born on 6 March 1847 in Somerset England, son of Peter Petherick and his wife Ann, née Press. The family migrated to Melbourne in 1853, and in 1862 Edward Petherick joined the bookselling firm of George Robertson.

In 1870 Petherick was appointed Robertson's London agent for the next thirty years. Whilst working for Robertson, and after 1887, in his own business Colonial Booksellers' Agency, he built up a large collection of Australiana. During this time too, he worked on his 'Bibliography of Australasia' that remains in manuscript form. He won recognition as bibliographer in 1882 by publishing the Catalogue of the York Gate geographical and colonial library for William Silver.

Petherick was declared bankrupt in 1894, but was able to save his valuable collection with the help of friends and his wife Mary Agatha Skeats, whom he had married in 1892. From 1895 until 1908 Petherick worked as a cataloguer for Francis Edwards and Co. and produced a series of outstanding catalogues of Australasian material.

Negotiations for the presentation of his collection of 'Federated Australia' began in 1895, but it was not until he returned to Australia in 1909 that the Federal Parliamentary Library Committee recommended its acquisition. This was 'in consideration of an annuity of £500 a year: Mr Petherick to render during the currency of the annuity such services in the Commonwealth Library as the Committee may from time to time prescribe'. An agreement between the Pethericks and the Commonwealth was signed in November 1909, and was confirmed by the Petherick Collection Act of 1911. Unfortunately the association between Petherick, as archivist to the Commonwealth and the Library was an unhappy one and his last years were spent in considerable professional frustration.

Petherick was appointed a Companion of St Michael and St George in June 1916. In September of the following year he died. His wife predeceased him in 1915.

References: Burmester, Clifford A. 'Edward Augustus Petherick (1847-1917)'. In Australian dictionary of biography, v. 5 (Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1974): 348-9. Langdon, Robert. 'Bibliography of Australasia' by E.A. Petherick. In The Journal of Pacific History, vol 4, 1969: 154-8.

Provenance:

Edward Augustus Petherick presented his collection of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, maps and pictures relating to Australia and the Pacific to the Commonwealth Parliament in 1909 as the 'Nucleus of an historical museum'. The agreement between Petherick and the Library Committee was formalized by the Petherick Act, which was passed by the Commonwealth Parliament in 1911.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1441032).
Conditions Governing Use:
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Edward Augustus Petherick, National Library of Australia, [class/series/file/item number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
Contact us