George Gibbs - Ockhams 2021 Finalist, talks to Millie Blackwell

MB: Unlike most fiction books, it seems that illustrated non fiction has a lot more flexibility in terms of format. How did you decide on the format for this book? 

GG: First, let me assure you that the design of this book had nothing to do with the categories of Ockham Awards.The Publisher, Robbie Burton, and I decided from the outset that it demanded top quality of production [“to be a lovely book”] in every respect to do justice to the quality of the art-work. It also had to recognise the size of the originals to emphasise the fineness of the brush-work. My mission was to show how the printing technology over Hudson’s lifetime had never been capable of reproducing the true quality of his work. So the book’s format, paper quality, and printing had to be of the highest standard available today. Our designer, Floor van Lierop played a strategic role for each page as the job proceeded.

MB: The end papers in your book are particularly delightful - how did you decide on the illustrations of the beetles out of all the possible illustrations you could have selected?

GG: Instinctive on my part.  I made the suggestion that we use one of Hudson’s insects as a design for the endpapers - far more effective that blank white paper! - and Robbie inserted those whole plates which represented some of my favourites. Like you, I love the impact of them in that position.

MB: George Hudson has a spotlight this Ockham’s season with his work also featuring in another finalist’s book (Jane Ussher’s Nature -- Stilled). But I don’t get the sense that he was really one to court the limelight. In fact, you say at one point in your book that his main goal was never fortune, it was to have people appreciate natural history. Do you remember or could you suggest any of the practical ways George would have encouraged beginners to express more of an interest? For example, would that have been in our own gardens or in parks? At museums?

GG: He was extremely critical of the education system which demanded rote learning and actively discouraged curiosity. He spent much of his life berating them in the press. His answer was the ‘boys’ meetings’ once a month at which he entertained a bunch of local boys (girls never considered as potential adherents) with discussions of his collection, or a session with the telescope, or a field trip to Butterfly Creek – the emphasis on stimulation of their curiosity.  Many of my parents’ generation had been members of those groups and gone on to become Museum Directors etc. 

MB: George Hudson was the originator of the idea for Daylight Savings Time but he didn’t get to see it come to reality (in New Zealand) in his lifetime. He was laughed off a podium when he first introduced the idea - can you tell us a bit more about that story?

GG: He had strong views that ‘science’ of the sort that Darwin was expressing, was right and could be trusted as being progressive.  His astronomy taught him that clocks that humans set up to time their lives were purely convenient systems and could be adjusted according to best need. [His observatory had two clocks – Greenwich Mean time and Sidereal or astronomical time.]  Changing a clock time was a matter of convenience as he saw it, something we do now every time we travel overseas. He was finally presented with an Award (in 1934) for making the suggestion, even though NZ had failed to take it up until war-time needs prevailed.

MB: “Journalling” is a popular hobby these days and often encouraged as a way to process our thoughts. George’s approach wasn’t so much about sharing his feelings but more about recording the facts and details of daily life. If he were alive today do you think he would have picked up modern technology to record and share his ideas or do you think he would have stuck with pencil / pen and paper?

GG: His “Victorian” background would have dominated here. For instance, he had the opportunity to learn typing but all his writings were in his longhand handwriting. He refused to have anything to do with the ‘science’ that emanated from the USA because he believed British was best – e.g. he always trusted and stuck with the British system of presenting insect collections. The word is staunch.  I think the most outstanding feature of his life is its long dedication to his initial goals.

MB: As a side question - I have a particular interest in wood pencils. Do you remember if George’s notes included anything in particular about pencils? 

He only rarely used a pencil.  All diary pages, letters and manuscripts were with a pen dipped into ink. The only time pencil appears is when he was in the field – on the Mount Arthur Tableland for instance.

MB: My bookshop is in a town that's very popular with weekend visitors and a common question we get is "what kind of coffee table books do you have" and sometimes the customer isn't as concerned about the subject matter as they are about the appearance of the book and whether it will suit their decor! Maybe I haven't been in bookselling long enough but I'm not bothered by the idea of books purely as beautiful objects. I'm curious, who do you think this book is best suited to? Or what kind of readers did you have in mind when you wrote it?

GG: A fascinating question!  My book was initially to assemble all the hand-written diaries and letters that he wrote expressing the above Victorian viewpoints. It was to explain who he was to entomologists who only knew him through the collector-item books. But, as I have said, it was also for the natural history readership to reveal the true excellence of his art-work, based on the original paintings. And it was to recreate the admiration of insects for their own sake - as he saw them – creatures of beauty and colour.

MB: We're a fairly new bookshop and we're really working on our hand-selling skills. What's something about the book that might not be immediately obvious that you'd like customers to know? Is there a special insight from George Gibbs can we share with customers?

GG: My book is a window on our past that has gone forever.  In that sense it is History as much as Natural History. For me it was a reflection on my early childhood – seeking explanations for the way he did things. And opening up the reasons for why I have led the life that eventuated. I saw that my academic career might have stemmed from his ‘boys groups’ – providing a source of inspiration to stimulate interest in the outdoors and life around us.  I hasten to point out that this comment is pure hindsight.

MB: My last three questions are areas of personal interest to me and I like to ask them of all artists and authors that I interview.

Do pencils feature in any part of your work or process? 

GG: I use pencils a lot.  My draft notes are always in pencil before I switch to a Word file.  I have made ink drawings of insects throughout my life and they always begin in pencil – usually with the aid of a microscope image, using an optical device to get the details right.

MB: Do you listen to music while you work and if yes, what kinds of music?

GG: That depends!  In my study at university I worked with the concert programme in the background, provided it didn’t disturb others.

MB: What is your favourite illustrated non fiction book? 

GG: Tim Flannery’s The Future Eaters.

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See Millie’s video review for a look inside the pages of An Exquisite Legacy.