MRBW Day 6

The sixth day of Melbourne Rare Book Week and a truly diverse range of talks to attend and sketch at.
JOHN LEWIN: COLONIAL BIRDMAN

State Library Victoria  Alisa Bunbury

19Jul2016 MRBW Day Five 1merged

A few fortunate people gathered around a table to view John Lewin’s Birds of New South Wales, published in 1813, was the first natural history book and the first illustrated book printed in Australia. We heard about the story of Lewin’s early natural history illustrations and this rare publication  and viewed other amazing illustrated bird, animal and insect books from Lewin and early Australian illustrators.

I did not feel like drawing with my Lamy Safari Joy ink pen, and wanted something a little softer so I used my watercolour pencils taking the colour off the tip of the pencil with the waterbrush and painting on the page.

ILLUSTRATED BOOKS

Monash University Library

Stephen Herrin

19Jul2016 MRBW Day Five 2

Illustrated books delight children and adults alike. Pictures can often affect how the reader reacts intellectually and emotionally with the book. This talk was a whirlwind tour through the history of illustrated books, showing highlights in various genres and some of the techniques involved.

I sketched with a 2B pencil

THE TYRANNY OF DISTANCE – 50 YEARS

Graeme Davison and Geoffrey Blainey

19Jul2016 MRBW Day Five 3

 

Professor Geoffrey Blainey has been described as the “most prolific, wide-ranging, inventive, and, in the 1980s and 1990s, most controversial of Australia’s living historians”. It is 50 years since the publication of his most famous book The Tyranny of Distance by Sun Books in 1966. The book was a bestseller and its title entered the language. It provoked a vigorous debate among historians on the origins of Australian settlement. Yet it also deserves to be remembered as a landmark in Australian publishing, for it was then unusual for a serious study of history to be first published as a paperback by a relatively new and unknown Australian publishing house.In this session, Professor Blainey recalled the genesis of the book and Graeme Davison, Emeritus Professor of History at Monash University, assessed its impact on the writing and publishing of Australian history

 ink pen used here !

THE MACABRE BROTHERS GRIMM : THE DARK SIDE OF FAIRYTALES

Melbourne Library Service staff

19Jul2016 MRBW Day Five 4a 19Jul2016 MRBW Day Five 4b

A storytelling session of some of the more macabre Grimm Brothers fairly tales. We discovered the original versions of some of the stories that we thought we knew well. We heard about the history and meaning behind the stories, while enjoying some delicious cheese and wine.

I was drawing in the dark here, a challenging thing to do. I have been challenged during this week to include the person giving the talk in my sketch. I have achieved a slight likeness very few times. When I attend an event, I introduce myself to the organisers (and sometimes the speaker) before they begin. I explain who I am and that I will be sketching the event. I show the previous days and let them see that I am not drawing portraits, but capturing the feeling of the event and being there.  For this final event I went back to watercolour pencil.

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