$60 (+$10 P&P)

The Fairer Side of Buxton: Alfred Buxton’s Gardens and the Women Who Loved Them

Alfred Buxton was the father of landscape design in New Zealand. Working in the early twentieth century, he was one of the first in the country to create expansive and sophisticated gardens that transformed people’s properties and way of life. His rural gardens became creative outlets for the wives of the farmers who commissioned them, recreational spaces for their families and meeting places for the community. Independent women commissioned Buxton gardens for their own enjoyment and for the schools they worked for, while mothers and wives raised funds for gardens to enhance the memorials being built to remember those lost in the Great War. Clare Gleeson tells an intriguing story of a man who played an important role in developing Aotearoa’s horticultural landscape, through the lens of the ‘fairer sex’ who supported and took pleasure in his work.

With a foreword by Julian Mathews.  Published by The Cuba Press, 2024. Available from all good booksellers and the author.

Available from Lyrebird Press
via The University of Melbourne

Memories of Musical Lives: Music and Dance in Personal Music Collections from Australia and New Zealand

Music-lovers from Australia and New Zealand have collected and bound sheet music and handwritten music since the earliest years of settlement. In these nine essays, the authors discuss music and dance collections found in libraries, historic houses, archives and homes, explaining what these cherished artefacts reveal about the owners, their emotional life and their musical practice. Beautifully illustrated, and with suggestions for how these collections might be further explored or disseminated, this is a landmark book in the history of music in private life.

Clare Gleeson – Chapter Five – Those who played and bound: bound volumes of piano music as an indicator of social change.

Published by Lyrebird Press, University of Melbourne, 2022.

$49.95 (+$10 P&P)

Meet me at Begg’s: the story of Charles Begg & Co, music and appliance manufacturers and retailers, 1861-1970

Published by Ngaio Press, Wellington, this in-depth history examines the rise and fall of a fascinating business and its impact on the social history of New Zealand.  From piano manufacturing, music publishing, concert promotion and musical retailing through to gramophones and radios, Begg’s meant music to many generations of New Zealanders.

“Meet me at Begg’s is a big enjoyable read”.  Manawatu Herald.