Manuscript diary recording an Englishman’s outward voyage to New Zealand via Hobart Town, his tour of the North Island, and homeward voyage on s.s. Ruapehu, June – October 1894.

A$325 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Small pocket diary (163 x 113 mm), limp roan covers with later handwritten paper label Old diaries / Hellier Gosselin , approximately 75 pages neatly written in ink, recording the owner s journey to New Zealand, out via the Cape of Good Hope and Hobart Town, home via Cape Horn (both voyages on s.s. Ruapehu ), and his 4-week tour around the North Island; clean and legible throughout. Hellier Gosselin (1849-1924) was a member of the Hertfordshire gentry. He was the owner of Bengeo Hall in Hertford and served two terms as Mayor of that town (1897-98; 1917-19). He was also a member of the Royal Archeaological Society, and a gifted linguist. Gosselin states on the first page of the diary: Having been advised by my medical man to take a long sea trip in hopes of getting rid of a long continued illness, I settled to make a start for New Zealand, by what is called the Direct Route . The Ruapehu left Tilbury on 30 June 1894. The entries in the diary describe the outward voyage; a two-day stop in Hobart in order to load a cargo of silver ore, where Gosselin visits the brewery and the Catholic Cathedral and witnesses snow on Mt. Wellington; the Ruapehu arrives in Auckland 5 days later (August 11) where he stays at the Albert Hotel; takes a carriage to top of Mt. Eden, Mt. Hobson, and One Tree Hill; visits Lake Takapuna ( very dreary in the winter ); attends services at the Catholic cathedral ( a somewhat poor building; the music was, however, excellent ); train trip to the springs at Ok

• Binding: Hardcover

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