The Colonial and his Books

Abstract

In this study an attempt is made to discover and evaluate the reading tastes of nineteenth century New Zealanders. The scope of the work is limited in that books rather than periodicals are considered. A chapter is devoted to the newspaper, but this is to suggest the range of reading matter available to the colonist. In investigating the problem of opportunity for reading particular emphasis is given to the development of community libraries of various description – e.g. public, mechanics' institute, and station libraries. That reading was a popular pastime may be doubted if the number of members of community libraries is considered. These institutions served only a minority. The question of literacy is raised. By the end of the century the adult population was almost entirely literate. By the end of the century, too, the New Zealander was an avid reader of prose fiction. Stories by women became very popular, yet the novelist who remained a constant favourite was Charles Dickens. Finding and interpreting adequate objective standards to assess reading material is a difficulty realized if not solved. It is therefore not unlikely that the conclusions reached by the writer may not be always the same as those reached by someone else employing the same facts. It is considered, however, that by the nineties, the quality of fiction read by settlers, no matter their social position, revealed a taste for the romantic, the spectacular, and the sentimental. However, one may be consoled by the thought that as studies in other countries have shown similar tendencies among readers, nineteenth century New Zealanders were far from being alone in their choice.