Wealth and power in a colonial society is the subject of this book. It is a detailed study of the richest settlers in southern New Zealand, where the country's earliest fortunes were made, mostly by pastoral farmers and financiers. Who where the rich? Not born gentlemen, the author shows, but astute and innovative capitalists, generally from relatively humble origins, Drawing on innovative research using wills, business papers and biographical sources, he investigates how they made their money, the significance of family relationships and the role of women, the influence of the rich on national and local politics, and how they justified and maintained their position.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Special collections at the University of Canterbury Library / Bronwyn Matthews
• From pen to print: Canterbury & the first information age / Chris Jones
• To be continued: further chapters in the story of Canterbury's rare books / Jennifer Clement
• Architecture & design. Introduction / Bronwyn Matthews. James Stuart & Nicholas Revett, The Antiquities of Athens / Patrick O'Sullivan. Sir William Chambers, A Treatise on Civil Architecture / Ian Lochhead. A record of the rebuilding of Baroque Rome / Ian Lochhead. Robert Thompson, The Gardener's Assistant / Mary Lovell-Smith. The Palace of Peace at The Hague / Ian Lochhead
• Telling stories. Introduction / Jennifer Clement. Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy / Geoffrey Rice. Samuel Butler, Hudibras / Geoffrey Rice. Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass / Jennifer Clement. Christina Rossetti, Goblin Market / Bronwyn Matthews. Charles Perrault's Tales illustrated by Gustave Doré / Emilie Sitzia. The Ursula Bethell Collection / Jeff Palmer
• Faith & belief. Introduction / Chris Jones. A friar's bible / Anna Milne. Public & private devotion in the Middle Ages / Anna Milne. The Lübeck Bible / Gareth Pritchard. The King James Bible / Peter Carrell. John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions / Jennifer Clement
• Remembering the past. Introduction / Chris Jones. The Canterbury Roll / Chris Jones. The Canterbury Sallast / Gary Morrison. Whakapapa books / Te Maire Tan. The Nuremburg Chronicle / John Hawes. William Harrison's The Description of Britaine / Jennifer Clement. Tokyo war crimes collection / Neil Boister. The Pacific Leprosy Foundation archive / Jane Buckingham
• The art of printing. Introduction / Bronwyn Matthews. Musical pastedowns in a sixteenth-century bible / Bronwyn Matthews. Gamonet & Daniel's Servins / Alison Holcroft. William Colenso & early printing in Māori / Helen Bones. Tale of Shiranui (Shiranui monogatari / Richard Bullen. William Morris, the Kelmscott Press & A Dream of John Ball / David Monger. Printing in Canterbury / Helen Bones
• The British world. Introduction / Jennifer Clement. A great Canadian bridge / Bronwyn Matthews. Francis Russell's 'Waimakariri' Waltz: colonial familiarity / Brian W. Pritchard. The A.C. Graham collection / Jeff Palmer. A Tudor statute book / David Round. Henry VIII, Defence of the Seven Sacraments / Chris Jones. Nicholas Cox, The Gentleman's Recreation / Philip Armstrong. Edward Ravenscroft, Pinetum Britannicum / Euan Mason
• Introduction / Bronwyn Matthews. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society / Andy Pratt. Boyle & Descartes / Andy Pratt. What's in a face? Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy / Emilie Sitzia. A social history of eighteenth-century dictionaries / Geoffrey Rice
• Ideas & connections. Introduction / Chris Jones. William Combe, A History of the University of Oxford / Peter S. Field. Two lectures on religion by Karl Popper / Diane Proudfoot. Indigenous knowldge systems: Tom Green's Notebook / Te Maire Tau. Arthur Prior's legacy at Canterbury / Jack Copeland. The prior archive: a testimony to advanced research / Aneta Markoska-Cubrinovska
• Exploration & discovery. Introduction / Chris Jones. David Gregory's Euclid / Clemency Montelle. Barchausen, Elementa chemiae / Andy Pratt. Emanuel Bowen, A Complete System of Geography / Katie Pickles. Dumont d'Urville & the search for the magnetic South Pole / Ursula Rack. The Zoology of the Voyage og H.M.S Erebus & Terror / Richard N. Holdaway. Carolus Clusius's Account of Rare Plants / Pieter B. Pelser. Berthold Seemann & his Flora Vitiensis / W.R. Sykes
• Digital pasts, print futures / Jennifer Clement.

"Presents reflections (by academics and members of the wider community) on some of the distinctive and exceptional items in the University's keeping, including medieval European manuscripts, an original printing of the 1611 King James Bible, papers of Karl Popper, and Māori whakapapa books. The items tell many stories, and chart the development of a university and building of a community. They are a history of the written word, but also of a settler society"--Publisher information.

• Front Cover; Title Page; Dedication; Half Title; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgements; FitzGerald Family Tree; Preface; Part I: Fitz finds a vocation;
• 1. The Maternity 1818-1842;
• 2. Pride and Poverty 1842-1844;
• 3. Coins and Catalogues 1844-1845;
• 4. The Colonial Microbe 1845-1849;
• 5. A Slice of England 1849-1850;
• 6. Just a Schoolgirl 1850; Part II: Fitz starts a new life;
• 7. The Charlotte Jane 1850;
• 8. The Cabin on the Hill 1850-1851;
• 9. A Bigger Fish 1850-1851;
• 10. The First Winter 1851;
• 11. Sheep, Sheep, Sheep 1851-1852; Part III: Fitz becomes a politician;
• 12. A Boy out of School 1852-1853.

• 13. Dignity and Decorum 1853-185414. A Restless Husband 1854;
• 15. A Beast with a Bill 1854-1855;
• 16. Spasms of the Heart 1855-1856;
• 17. A Missed Opportunity 1856-1857; Part IV: Fitz starts a newspaper;
• 18. An Influential Colonist 1857-1860;
• 19. Without Fear or Favour 1860-1861;
• 20. No Common Man 1861-1862;
• 21. The Grand Demonstration 1862;
• 22. Friend Whititera 1862-1863;
• 23. A Prophet in the Desert 1863-1865; Part V: Fitz goes to Wellington;
• 24. The Road to Hokitika 1865;
• 25. An Ordinary Rooster 1865-1866;
• 26. A Painful Parting 1866-1867;
• 27. Chesney Wold 1867-1868.

• 28. A Rigid System of Economy 1868-187029. An Island in Sight 1868-1871;
• 30. FitzGerald's Folly 1872-1877; Part VI: Fitz grows old;
• 31. An Afflicted Family 1878-1884;
• 32. The Flash of a Meteor 1884-1888;
• 33. White Azaleas 1888-1895;
• 34. Joining the Majority 1895-1896;
• 35. A Pilgrim Mother 1896-1901;
• 36. An Unfinished Tale 1901-1933; Postscript; Timeline; Notes to the Text; Bibliography; Index.

The story of James Edward FitzGerald, whose energy and enthusiasm contributed so much to the early history of Christchurch. Orator, writer, politician and journalist, he was the first Canterbury Pilgrim to set foot in New Zealand, first superintendent of the province of Canterbury, first leader of the general government, and founder of the Press newspaper. From his early years in the Anglo-Irish gentry of England to his old age as auditor-general of the colony, Fitz is a gripping biography that reads like a novel, breathing new life into the extraordinary man who played a major role in public life through fifty years of New Zealand history.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)