The Pamphlet Collection

Sir Robert presented his pamphlet collection in 1928. It was the one donation he made which was large enough and valuable enough to attract the Government's pound for pound subsidy and to be mentioned specifically in a newspaper report. When it was received H.G. Miller, the Librarian, described it as 'a fine collection' which 'comprises a large number of very valuable pamphlets'. He estimated that there were over 2,000 pamphlets, about 1,000 being bound, and noted (in his annual report) that 1,066 related to New Zealand, of which 352 were bound. Mr Johannes Andersen of the Turnbull Library valued the collection at fifty pounds, a large sum in the days when a budget of 724 pounds bought 804 volumes of books and periodicals (the 1929 accessions exclusive of donations). The Council minutes record that the 'collection will be entitled "The Robert Stout Collection of Pamphlets"' and those are the pamphlets catalogued here.

The 1,066 New Zealand pamphlets reported by Mr Miller include a significant number of duplicate copies, and Mr Miller ignored the non-New Zealand pamphlets which are about 60% of the total. As individual items these are less interesting and much less valuable than the New Zealand pamphlets, but as a collection they provide a most useful insight into Sir Robert's intellectual concerns. Just as his books include Samuel Butler on evolution, so his pamphlets include T.H. Huxley and a range of lesser figures discussing the scientific, and even more the religious, implications of evolution. Henry George and the land reform movement are represented among the books, and he and his followers are well-represented among the pamphlets.

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The collection identified as the 'Sir Robert Stout Collection of Pamphlets' comprises 93 volumes, numbered 1 to 88 with numbers 3, 24 and 80 duplicated, plus two additional volumes, called 'Rare' and 'Personal'. These volumes do not contain the complete collection of pamphlets received in 1928; about a third of the 714 unbound New Zealand pamphlets were left unbound and have been absorbed into the Library's collection of rare New Zealand books and the same has probably happened to the non-New Zealand pamphlets. As these latter included issues of periodicals and a number of substantial, though paper-bound, items of some value many were incorporated into the library's general collections and cannot now be traced. Some 120 plus were added to the general pamphlet collections kept in the rare books section of the Library and they could be identified when they carry Sir Robert Stout's signature. With their New Zealand counterparts, they form the sequence of 'Unbound pamphlets' in this catalogue. There are also three further volumes of bound pamphlets which have been included in the catalogue although they were accessioned separately: these are identified as 'AP', 'BL' and 'DA', from the classifications they have been assigned.

The volumes called 'Rare' and 'Personal' were not received in 1928 but came to the Library in 1969 with the collection of Dr Robert Stout, Sir Robert's second son. The Personal volume was presented by Sir Robert to his son in May 1930; it was originally bound about 1918 and a few extra pamphlets were tipped-in later, at the beginning and end of the volume. The Rare (New Zealand) volume also came from Dr Stout but it also clearly belongs to the collection; although re-bound it carries a binder's label which links it with volumes 10, 50 and 54.

There are two volumes which we cannot be certain were part of the collection. Volume 86 originally belonged to W.M. Bolt and was acquired by Sir Robert as a bound volume, late in his career. Volume 87 was originally owned by Thomas Turnbull, a Wellington architect whose books were given to the Library in the mid-1930s. It is possible that this volume was never in Sir Robert's possession but was added to the collection by mistake. It has been included in the catalogue as its incorporation in the collection by our predecessors suggests that it should receive the benefit of the doubt. There are a further two volumes, nos. 7 and 88, which were quite definitely owned by Sir Robert, but were given to him by Sir Walter Buller as bound volumes. Buller also seems to have supplied many of the pamphlets which make up volumes 6 and 22, but Sir Robert arranged for the binding of those volumes.

468 of the unbound New Zealand pamphlets were bound at the Library's expense (12 volumes at 9s. 6d. each, 6 volumes at 10s. 6d. each, a total of f10.7s.) and these form volumes 63 to 79 and 80a. The remaining volumes were bound at various times by Sir Robert's instruction and they can be grouped by the materials and decorative tools into several groups which can be dated approximately. There is some interest in these groups, which seem to relate to Sir Robert's career, and they can usefully be summarised here.

The earliest group, dating from the early 1870s, contains volumes 3, 5 and 18. The materials are cheap and the workmanship average. The second, and largest group, has six subgroups. The page viii binding was done by Alexander Sligo of Dunedin, at times between late 1873 (at the earliest) and about 1888. The six subgroups, in probable date order are: volumes 13, 19 and 20 and 'AP'; after August 1877, volumes 12, 17, 24, 25 and 31; after March 1878, volumes 4, 9, 11, 16, 21, 26, 28, 32, 33 and 34; after May 1881, volumes 8, 15, 29, 35, 36, 38, 42, 43, 44, 45 and 48; after May 1882, and possibly after Sir Robert's return to Dunedin in late 1887, volumes 2, 37, 40, 41, 46 and 47; lastly, probably in 1888, volumes 24a, 27, 39, 49 and 53.

The third group, with three subgroups, was bound in Wellington by Lyon and Blair, probably during Sir Robert's term as Premier. The materials are good quality cloth, with good workmanship, notable because the pamphlets have not been trimmed at all. The subgroups are: in late 1885 or early 1886, volumes 51, 52, 55, 57, 60, 82 and 83; in late 1886 (after July), volumes 10, 50, 54, 58 and 61, and probably the 'Rare' volume; in mid or late 1887, volumes 14, 56, 84 and 85.

The fourth group was probably bound in Wellington after Sir Robert's return at the end of 1893. The binding is of the same quality and style as Lyon and Blair's work; the Wellington branch of Whitcombe and Tombs took over Lyon and Blair's business in late 1894. This group contains volumes 1, 6, 22, 23, 30 and 62.

Volumes 3a, 80 and 81 were bound about 1914 by Lankshear in Wellington. The final volume, 59, cannot be grouped with any other; it seems to be rather inferior work done in Wellington during Sir Robert's term as Premier.

The interest of the grouping of the volumes by their bindings is an extension of the very real interest created by associations within the volumes. For instance, volume 36 is largely composed of pamphlets published in aid of the Temperance movement, and volume 39 combines pamphlets on the Bradlaugh case, on Bradlaugh's associates, and on rationalism. Volume 22 contains chiefly offprints of articles from scientific journals, and volume 43 has reprints from an American legal journal. These associations, and other more diffuse relationships, are apparent to the user of the volumes and it was felt very desirable that they should be preserved in the catalogue arrangement.