A Margaret Preston print of Mosman Bridge has been discovered in a book about her in the Howard Hinton library. While Sylvia Ransom was updating the catalogue of the Hinton library she discovered the hand coloured wood cut which was printed to accompany the book Margaret Preston: Recent Paintings in 1929. It is planned to exhibit it next year.
It is just one of several gems that have been unearthed in the cataloguing process. As well as donating paintings to Armidale Teachers’ College Hinton also donated a wide range of books on art covering all periods, though with a strong cohort on Australian art of the 1920s and 30s, some of which were quite exquisite and rare. They form an important part of the Hinton legacy since they provide a context for his donations of art.
Other limited edition gems that have been rediscovered include: Colour Prints of Hiroshige, compiled by P. Neville Barnett; number 24 of a limited edition of 100 copies produced at Beacon Press in 1937; Elioth Gruner: Twenty-four reproductions in colour from original oil paintings, compiled by Norman Lindsay at Shepherd Press in 1947; number 106 of a 200 signed copy de luxe edition; And Songs of the Sea from Rudyard Kipling’s Verse, illustrated by Donald Maxwell and signed by Rudyard Kipling. One of a limited edition of 500 copies published in 1927.
More information on the Library can be found here. And you can search the online Howard Hinton Research Library Catalogue and discover what is included in the full collection. Three quarters of the books Hinton gave to the teachers’ college have been catalogued so far, as well as general art reference books and exhibition catalogues. The collection is a reference collection only, but work in the collection can be viewed by appointment.
