JOAN DE HAMEL

MS 5213
MS Short Title JOAN DE HAMEL
Text 1.JOAN DE HAMEL: TAKE THE LONG PATH 2.JOAN DE HAMEL: HEMI'S PET 3.MURU WALTERS: MAORI PROVERBS
Description MS and typescript in English (texts 1-2) and Maori (texts 1, 3) on paper, Macandrew Bay, Dunedin, New Zealand, 1975-1978, 664+2 pp.+441 pp. typescript (complete), 5 vols., 25x20 cm - 34x20 cm, single column, (24x17 cm - 31x18 cm); texts 1-2: 28-50 lines in cursive script, autograph, signed, 6 drawings of penguins and nests, 2 maps in colours; text 3: 21+12 lines in cursive script, autograph. Typescript with autograph ands signed corrections; extensive notes by the author on how the various versions and parts are related.
Binding Dunedin, New Zealand, ca. 1975, 2 vols.: shirting gilt on boards, sewn on 5 cords for University of Otago; 3 vols.: stitched paper covers.
Provenance 1. Joan de Hamel, Macandrew Bay, Dunedin, New Zealand (1975-2003).
Commentary Joan de Hamel (b. 1924). Her first book, "X marks the spot", was a landmark in New Zealand's children's literature. The present extensive materials for Take the Long Path, winner of the New Zealand Library Association's Esther Glen Award, comprise all stages from source materials of Maori history and language, early drafts, the extensive original version (with materials not used here, but later published in the children's picture book: Hemel's Pet) to the printer's copy of final version. The Maori proverbs were not used in Take the Long Path, but there are extensive sections of Maori language and poetry in the various drafts. Included in the final work was "Takahia atu ra, Te ara whahui -", "Take the long path, To the dense dark, To the waiting place of spirits, To the final home of man".
Published First published by Lutterworth Press, Guilford and London, 1978.
Place of origin New Zealand
Dates 1975-1978