Minor collections

Uniformly bound in sheepskin, this collection of some 500 volumes represents the University Library's first recorded collection as listed in the 1878 University of Adelaide Calendar. Largely purchased from London bookseller Henry S. King, the collection also includes gifts and exchanges from societies.

Reflecting a lifetime spent in Chinese studies, Andrew Watson's collection comprises rare research material related to China's rural development and economic history. Many of the items were acquired by Andrew during his employment by the Chinese government in the 1960s.

The brilliant researcher Thorburn Brailsford Robertson was appointed as the first Professor of Biochemistry and General Physiology at the University of Adelaide in 1919. The collection reflects his interests in experimental physiology, insulin manufacture, protein chemistry, and animal nutrition.

The Burden Collection consists largely of 18th century play texts, opera librettos and other print resources used by Michael Burden as research material for his published works about the stage music of Purcell and also on opera, dance and theatre in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

This collection reflects Christine Rothauser’s lifelong love of Wagner and his works. A regular attendee at the Bayreuth Wagner Festivals and other Wagner performances worldwide, Christine compiled a comprehensive collection about Wagner and performances.

Approximately 200 titles of popular cowboy fiction collected and read by Bill Choate, rancher of Hawk Springs, Wyoming, donated to the Library in 2014 by the University of Adelaide University Librarian Ray Choate. Prominent authors include Max Brand, Louis L'Amour, and Zane Grey.

This rich collection of books and films donated by Colin Crisp, Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies at Griffith University, reflects his life-long study of classic French cinema from the 1930s to 1960s. The films feature performers such as Edith Piaf and Fernandel.

Professor James Cornell's collection reflects his research in French language and literature and includes extensively annotated medieval romance and poetry, as well as works by Villon and influential French Renaissance writers Rabelais and Montaigne.

A popular collection with titles dating from the 1950s to the 1960s, the crime fiction books, with their distinctive and often lurid paperback covers, were purchased in response to Dr Michael Tolley's teaching and research at the University.

Comprising pamphlets, ephemeral material and publications of the Foreign Language Press, this collection provides the historical context for the Cultural Revolution, launched in 1966 by Mao Zedong in an attempt to reassert his authority over the Chinese Government.

R. A. Fisher's extraordinary contribution to statistical theory, experimental design, scientific inference, evolutionary biology and genetics are reflected in this collection of his own publications, his scholarship prize books and volumes selected from his personal library.

Law graduate, Ralph Hague, gifted the University Library more than 30,000 books over his lifetime. Many of them have been brought together to form this fascinating collection of books about books, including the buying, selling, printing, collecting and cataloguing of books.

Donated by Professor Peter Sydenham in 2023, the History of STEM Collection explores the global evolution of measurement and instrumentation across STEM, arts, and humanities. Spanning 1820 to 2005, it includes rare books, catalogues, photographs, and notes that trace scientific and technological progress. Themes include the development of standards, scientific methods, instrumentation, and biographies of pioneering figures.

Donated by John Jenkin, this collection features books related to William Henry Bragg and his son William Lawrence Bragg, who were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in 2015 for introducing and developing the science of X-ray crystallography.

Founded in 1922 as a sub-group of the South Australian Liberal Union (later the Liberal Federation), The Liberal Men's Education Association was active in the 1920s and 1930s as an educational and social body for the promotion of conservative politics.

Marie Robinson was a member of staff at the University of Adelaide’s Barr Smith Library for 38 years until her death in September 1998. Marie was an expert on the Library's collections, contributing enormously to their development for many years. In her personal life, Marie was an expert in bromeliads.

Comprising almost five hundred volumes, this collection includes works of less than 14cm in height. A range of disciplines are covered and the publication dates span more than 400 years, the earliest being a 1561 edition of the meditations of St. Augustine.

Donated by former University of Adelaide University Librarian, Ray Choate, the McSweeney's collection of literary journals and books reflects the independent publisher's penchant for creative, often quirky, stories and essays which other publishers might overlook.

Supplementing the Pacific Collection, Doug Munro's collection includes his own published works and supporting research material, specialising in Pacific biography and including works on J. C. Beaglehole and J. W. Davidson.

The small but diverse Simpson Collection, purchased by the University of Adelaide Library at auction in 2007, contains books dated from 1533 to 1887. Many of the works relate to the family of Pearson Simpson, including a 1714 Book of Common Prayer with family genealogies.

The Theatre programme collection, bequeathed to the University of Adelaide Library in 1976 by Miss Floy Angel Nan Symon, includes many programmes of theatre, ballet and, to a lesser extent, music performances, attended by her or her friends between the 1920s and 1970s.

This valuable collection on Australiana, voyages and discovery was purchased in 1895 by Sir Samuel Way from the Australiana bibliographer E. A. Petherick, who had originally compiled the collection for the fraudulent financial dealer Matthias Larkin.

Works by or on British textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and socialist activist William Morris, collected by Eugene LeMire while researching for his book, A bibliography of William Morris.

Works selected from the family library of solicitor and politician, Ian Wilson, representative of the reading habits of the wealthy and cultured Wilson and Bonython families, including many signed copies sent to editor John Bonython for review by The Advertiser.