The Beauty of Illustrated Nonfiction and the Ockham New Zealand Book Award Shortlist

As I mentioned last month, I’ve been trying to read — and stock — more New Zealand authors, and I turned to The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards longlist for inspiration and recommendations. 

Not long after, I dove headfirst into my favourite category, illustrated nonfiction, and was utterly delighted, and sometimes surprised, by the selections. 

As promised, my reviews of the four shortlisted finalists for the Illustrated Nonfiction award. We stock all of these titles in the shop, so as always, if you’re interested in one or more for yourself or someone special in your life, come in or phone the shop and we set one aside for you.

Nature - Stilled by Jane Ussher

I might as well go ahead and say that I was not initially attracted to the concept for this book. 

Until it became a finalist for the Ockham NZ Book Awards I hadn't ordered this book for the shop. My initial thought was something like "A book of photos of the dead animals?"

But my impression changed once I got a copy of this book in front of my eyeballs.

In her introduction and in reference to naturalist George Hudson whose collection she photographs for the book (and who is the subject of another finalist's book!), Jane says, "how could one not admire someone so focused and fastidious?" 

I think that statement summaries how you'll feel about Jane Ussher herself after you've spent an hour with this delightful book.

But first... who is Jane Ussher?

Jane was the staff photographer at the original New Zealand Listener before starting her own photography business. She is the author of, or contributor of photography to, 14 books all related to New Zealanders or NZ content. 

This book contains 157 full page images from nine species in Te Papa's Natural History Collection and Jane shot all the images across just three days. Focused and fastidious did we say?

There are group shots and individual or cropped images of some species, some are so detailed you can see butterfly wings down to the pixel (or whatever it is you call the pieces that make up a butterfly wing? Answer: nano-scale structures).

Along with her designers, the decision was made to group the images by colour, or chromatically. The great thing about this is it gives all the different species a sense of equal weight and importance. Kakapo and Kiwi can be found near moths and butterflies, and x-ray images of fish and eels come close after images of lichen and beetles.

The back of the book has several black and white pages of (surprisingly?) accessible commentary from the Museum's Collection Managers which really brings the story behind the images to life. 

Grab a bunch of bookmarks or a tin of Book Darts for this one because you'll find yourself turning back and forward to the commentary as your mind wanders to questions like “How did Te Papa end up with all these birds?” or “Who found this and why has it been preserved in someone's old peanut butter jar?”

I know, as a kid, I would have spent HOURS looking through this book and making sketches, and for that reason I'm recommending this as a gift book for families with artistic and curious pre-teens. Adults will also enjoy the intimate look at these collections which are normally reserved for researchers and museum staff, as well as an up close look at some extinct species like Huia — one of the most impressive shots in the book considering how old this specimen must be.

This book would also make a wonderful gift for natural history buffs and for any photographers or designers in your life.

Nature — Stilled is $69.90.

Hiakai by Monique Fiso

If you haven't heard of the book, you might have heard of the author's restaurant by the same name, or seen Monique on Gordon Ramsey's show or on Netflix's show, The Final Table.

Monique was born and raised in Wellington, beginning her fine culinary training at Martin Bosley's Boat Shed (a picture of a young Monique is included in the back Martin's 2010 cookbook) before heading off to New York to train in three Michelin-star restaurants. 

We've had Hiakai — which by the way, is the Maori word for "hungry" — in our cookbook section since we opened, but in some ways shelving it as a cookbook doesn't do justice to everything that this book is.

Of the 270 pages, fewer than half of them are recipes — the rest of the book teaches us about Maori culture and legend, seasonal foraging, and food gathering traditions, before taking us through the most beautiful reference guide to indigenous ingredients — each with the Maori, English, and scientific names, accompanied by a photo and description.

It's a very elegant and sophisticated book, especially when considered among the foraging and New Zealand culture categories.

As a fairly competent home cook myself, I'd say to you that these aren't recipes for timid home cooks nor are they for anyone looking for a quick bite to eat. This is set-the-day-aside, project-based kitchen fun!

Monique owns a restaurant in Wellington, also called Hiakai, and while it's notoriously difficult to get a table you may look at the recipes and decide it's worth the wait to eat a version of these recipes prepared by Monique instead.

I've already given this book as a gift to several friends and family and it never fails to impress. Perfect for any foodie and anyone else with a deep love of or developing interest in New Zealand.

Hiakai is $64.90.

An Exquisite Legacy by George Gibbs

Before reading this book I knew nothing about George Hudson, but now I want him to be my best friend so that we can trade journals!

I love to read about characters like George, and I'm so glad George Gibbs decided to bring his grandfather's story to life for all of us. 

George Hudson was one of New Zealand's most prolific naturalists — you can see just a portion of his collection in Jane Ussher's book, Nature - Stilled (above) — but he was also an incredible artist, an intense diarist and record keeper and interestingly, the original mastermind — for the whole world — of daylight saving time. There's a story of him first presenting the idea to a Wellington Philosophical Society in 1895 at which he was apparently laughed off the podium. 

George Hudson devoted his adult life to collecting and describing New Zealand’s insects and created the largest known collection, which is now housed at Te Papa. He also wrote seven books on insects, each featuring colour illustrations — more than 3,100 meticulously beautiful paintings, mostly of moths and butterflies.

An Exquisite Legacy is written by his grandson, Dr George Gibbs, himself a prominent entomologist and that level of expertise shines through in this book as well.

I’m a sucker for end papers and if the decision for best Illustrated Non-Fiction could be made on end-papers alone, this book would be our winner. I love that the publishers went for this level of detail.

All of the artwork throughout is George Hudson's own paintings and drawings — this might not seem like much until you see the sheer volume of it! There were many times I found myself having to go back a page to remind myself what I'd just read because I'd become so distracted by the beauty and detail of the illustrations on the new page. 

I think this is a book equally suited to adults and children. Readers of New Zealand history and anyone who enjoys a biography of a truly fascinating and focused human being will like this too. 

I also have one last recommendation for any film producers or screenplay writers searching for a character in their next biopic: George's intense work and personal idiosyncrasies seem made for a big screen movie.

An Exquisite Legacy is $59.90

BONUS: Calling all citizen scientist! Help Te Papa decipher George Hudson’s notes.

Marti Friedlander: Portraits of the Artists by Leonard Bell

Art History lecturer at Auckland University, Leonard Bell was a close personal friend of the late Marti Feidlander and clearly took great care and delight in this book.

The first portion of this book sets the social context for creative life in New Zealand during the mid to late twentieth century and then takes the reader on a detailed journey through Marti's personal life and career development.

Marti Friedlander (1928–2016) was one of New Zealand’s most important portrait photographers. British-born, Marti emigrated to New Zealand 1958 and in response to the conservatism of New Zealand - compared to her life in London - she began taking photographs to document and understand the country and people around her.

The book includes over 250 photos, with 114 full page portraits of New Zealand's artistic and cultural luminaries, many of which were unseen until this publication. We have painters, writers, musicians, social activists, and academics and I was especially happy to catch a glimpse of local legend, Wairarapa potter Paul Melser, potters seem to have been a particularly interesting subject for Marti.

Along with Paul Melser you’ll find portraits of Rita Angus and Ralph Hotere, C. K. Stead and Maurice Gee, Neil Finn and Kapka Kassabova, Ans Westra and Kiri Te Kanawa, as well as many others.

Most of the images are black and white and each is accompanied by a quote from the featured artists and a description of how their life and work intersected with Marti's. It’s quite incredible to see all this work gathered together, from a photographer of this caliber and with access to so many important and influential people over such a long duration.

This book is a must-have for New Zealand art lovers or cultural history enthusiasts. And you could feel very smug about gifting it to friends and family with committed mid-century design tastes — it will look great atop the noguchi coffee table!

Marti Friedlander: Portraits of the Artists is $74.90