General

English

A Spirit Companion: Celebrating the first 50 years of the Spirit of Adventure Trust

$60.00

Title: A Spirit Companion: Celebrating the first 50 years of the Spirit of Adventure Trust Author: Roger McDonald ISBN: 978-1-99-004251-5 RRP: $60.00 Specs: HB, 220 x 170mm portrait, 344pp, 2 colour Published: 14 November 2023

‘All a trainee needed to feel — could not help feeling — was that their feet were on the decks of something pretty big, and change was happening all around them just by the motion that happened when the wind blew.’ For 50 years, people from all walks of life have stepped aboard first the Spirit of Adventure, and today the Spirit of New Zealand Te Waka Herenga Tangata ō Aotearoa, for a voyage of personal discovery. They’ve had fun, made friends, and been given a taste of expanded possibility. Distinguished author Roger McDonald captures stories from over 70 people who have made ‘the Spirit’ part of their lives — from those who have worked and sailed for the Spirit of Adventure Trust to the young people whom it has introduced to sailing and self-recognition. This attractive cloth-bound hardback is illustrated with drawings by Sue Fisher, which combines with writing of the highest standard to make this an ideal memento for anyone who has ‘sailed the Spirit’ or loves the sea.

Add to cart Details
Cover Story: 100 Beautiful, Strange and Frankly Incredible New Zealand LP Covers

$49.99

Cover Story 100 Beautiful, Strange and Frankly Incredible New Zealand LP Covers Author: Steve Braunias ISBN: 978-0-947506-89-6 RRP: $49.99 Specs: 312 x 312 mm, PB, 168 pp, colour Publishing: 26 October 2021 REPRINT IS IN STOCK NOW!

Music is a key to culture, no matter where in the world you are from and New Zealand is no exception. In the decades from 1957–87 the LP was king of New Zealand recorded music. To sell the music cover art was needed, and the book showcases 100 of the best examples at full LP size. Divided into themes, Cover Story brings Braunias’ inimitable wit and empathy to bear on the artistic flair, fashion and occasional gaudiness these album covers represent. Based on interviews and his own experience collecting over 800 albums from op-shops around the country, he reflects on what they say about our popular culture. Several hundred words accompany each of the albums — from Bill & Boyd to Tina Cross, Christian music to punk — while Katrina Duncan’s sharp design lets the art leap from the page. This is a big book in every sense, one that is a visual delight and full of quirky information, but that doesn’t take its subjects or itself too seriously.

Add to cart Details
Footprints on the Land

$45.00

Title: Footprints on the Land How Humans Changed New Zealand Author: Richard Wolfe ISBN: 978-1-99-004220-1 RRP: $45.00 Specs: 250 x 185 mm, PB, 184 pp, b&w with colour sections Published: 12 October 2022 The Book: Richard Wolfe eloquently summarises this book’s scope in his Introduction: For upwards of 800 years, humans have made New Zealand their home, modifying the landscape to suit their needs. Although there can be no going back to the land’s original pristine condition, an awareness of the history of these changes will provide both a background and surely improve understanding of our present circumstances and challenges. Footprints on the Land tracks those changes — from early settlement and wars through to state building, with railways, species introductions, milling, mining and farming. Later chapters recount the impacts of urbanisation, draining and flooding, and the car, before considering the threats and opportunities that now face New Zealanders as a result. Wolfe’s timely tour of the human place on these islands is distinguished by art and photography that display what we’ve created and what we’ve lost.

Add to cart Details
Greenstone Carving

$39.99

Title: Greenstone Carving: Techniques and Concepts in Pounamu Author: Len Gale ISBN: 978-1-99-004216-4 RRP: $39.99 Specs: PB, 250 x 185 mm portrait, 84 pp, colour Publishing: 15 June 2022 This helpful practitioner’s guide takes the reader from the origins of pounamu/greenstone through the basics of design, tools and techniques, leading on to popular styles like hei tiki, toki, pekapeka, mere and patu. Illustrated with helpful drawings and photos of work in progress, this new edition also features photography of finished work from leading studio Moko Pounamu, Ōtautahi/Christchurch.

Add to cart Details
Hundertwasser in New Zealand

$70.00

Title: Hundertwasser in New Zealand The Art of Creating Paradise Author: Andreas J. Hirsch Translated by Uta Hoffmann ISBN: 978-1-99-004214-0 RRP:$70.00 Specs: 260 x 190 mm, portrait, 240 pp, colour, cloth cover with tipped-on art, reading ribbon Published: 16 August 2022; reprint now in stock

‘New Zealand is for me a kind of promised land.' Austrian-born artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser arrived in New Zealand in 1973, seeking refuge from a world out of kilter with nature. After travelling and exhibiting, he settled at Kaurinui, the land he bought and restored in the Bay of Islands. Wishing to unite ‘nature and art, art and life’, he was ‘never nearer to this unity than in New Zealand’. Hundertwasser in New Zealand is a richly illustrated and accessible account of the artist’s love of Aotearoa, his interaction with the people and land, and the influence these had on his work. Andreas Hirsch explores in superb, lucid prose the artist’s trajectory in New Zealand, including the art, philosophy and architecture he created here, along with public projects like the Koru Flag and the Kawakawa Public Toilets. Illustrated with an array of paintings, drawings, sketches, photographs and the artist’s writing, this book is itself an artistic statement that will connect with readers of all kinds and truly enshrine Hundertwasser as a New Zealand icon.

Add to cart Details
Kiwi: A Curious Case of National Identity

$45.00

Title: Kiwi A Curious Case of National Identity Author: Richard Wolfe ISBN: 978-1-99-004264-5 RRP: $45.00 Specs: 250 x 185 mm, PB, 208 pp, colour Publishing: 10 October 2024 Kiwi is a fascinating deep dive into New Zealand’s curious national identity. Cultural author and avid Kiwiana collector Richard Wolfe explores the evolution of ‘kiwi’ from the Māori name of a secretive bird to its many uses today — renaming a fruit native to China, signifying a New Zealander, and a powerful term in national and international branding. With extensive colour illustrations, photographs and ephemera, and the author’s keen eye for the curious, Kiwi presents some outlandish stories, tales of cultural appropriation and recognition of ‘Kiwi’ around the world. A popular study on New Zealand identity, this is an entertaining and important work for fans of all things kiwi and Kiwis themselves.

Add to cart Details
Life with Cars

$49.99

Title: Life with Cars New Zealanders' motoring memories 1950s–1980s Author: Stephen Barnett ISBN: 978-0-947506-74-2 RRP: $49.99 Specs: 240 x 260 mm landscape,PB with flaps, 168 pp, colour Published: 4 November 2020 For a preview of the book: Click here Book can be pre-ordered ahead of November publication The Book: Life with Cars is a like a national family photo album, albeit one with its focus on cars. It brims with evocative imagery of cars and automotive adventures from the 1950s to the 1980s, with the words of the contributors as told to the author.
Their stories reflect New Zealanders’ creation and uptake of car culture — telling of breakdowns in the middle of nowhere, holidays at the beach, evading the law, Sunday drives and of course posing on, beside or in the much-loved four-wheeled family members.

Underpinning these stories are relationships — primarily between owners and their cars, but also between parents and children, partners in life, and young people and their peers — all during a time when cars had character, there was less congestion on the roads and petrol was cheap.

These stories will resonate with a wide audience, from those who owned cars then to those that love their cars as much today.

Add to cart Details
Parliamentary Practice in New Zealand

$60.00
Title: Parliamentary Practice in New Zealand Author: David McGee; edited by Mary Harris and David Wilson ISBN: 978-0-947506-24-7 RRP: $75.00 Specs: 245 x 155 mm portrait, PB, 896 pp, black & white Ebook ISBN: 978-0-947506-27-8 Ebook RRP: $45.00 The Book: Parliamentary Practice in New Zealand is the definitive work on practice and procedure in the New Zealand House of Representatives. This fourth edition incorporates a decade of developments since the third edition in 2005, and reflects many significant changes in parliamentary law, practice and procedure, including:

the Parliamentary Privilege Act 2014

how the House and its committees conduct legislative and financial scrutiny

the use of extended sittings by the House

the increased role of the Business Committee to manage the transaction of parliamentary business

how the work of the House and its committees is communicated to the public.

This new edition features an attractive design and accessible structure, with extensive indexing and references. The ebook is available from 24 May on leading online retailers including the Ibooks store, Amazon and Mebooks NZ ebooks.
Add to cart Details
E-book Available from
Regions of New Zealand

$32.99

Title: Regions of New Zealand Author: Peter Dowling ISBN: 978-0-947506-35-3 RRP: $32.99 Specs: 270 x 210 mm portrait, HB, 40 pp, colour Publishing: 24 October 2017 The Book: Where are the regions of New Zealand? How did they develop? What makes them special and cool to visit? Through maps, photos, fact boxes and simple text, Regions of New Zealand takes readers on a tour from Northland to Southland, Tokelau to Antarctica – with fascinating insights into the special features, facts and characters of our distinctive regions. Each region features in a spread of the book, with a colour map showing towns and features, summary text, photos illustrating key locations and tourist destinations, fact boxes and key info. In addition are sections on Māori regional relationships, early provincial divisions, outlying territories and study links.

Add to cart Details

E-book Available from