Books: Neptune's Toll and Other Verses, Whangarei in Whangarei, Northland for sale
Spine lettering rubbed away. No signatures. Minor foxing.; [x], 93, [1] pages. Green cloth boards with white lettering on spine and front board. Page dimensions: 189 x 123mm. The author escapes mention in Jane Stafford&Mark Williams'recent book"Maoriland: New Zealand Literature 1872 - 1914". Some quotes:"Two little Maori maidens, who, / In all the grace of girlhood fair"- page 19;"Beside a Maori cottage in September, / When zephyrs through the golden wattle blow,"- page 23. Some of the poetry has a fine jilting rhythm:"In days gone by they built a ship, / A good old wooden whaler, / To seek for the wealth of the southern isles - / Sing ho! for the sea and the sailor!"- page 5. This is the author's only publication. He dedicates it to William Fenwick, the editor of the"Otago Witness"-"In the early years of our southern colonization there came into its life a man who was destined to play an important part in its literary advancement."- from the dedication. With a two page preface by the much better known Maoriland writer Jessie Mackay:"It is dinned into us nowadays that poetry is either dead or dying. [. . .] but these times are warmed by torches of pure and gentle fancy [. . .] / Such a holder of the torch is the author of'Neptune's Toll.'Both by blood and nature he is the descendant of the old Scottish bards who sang of things brave and beautiful in the world they saw around them, glad in their art, counting no work too common for doing or glorifying."Selected poem titles: Neptune's Toll; Empire's Call; The Mermaid's Song; The Daffodil King; Loading the'Hawea'in the Oamaru Roadstead by Night; The Strike in Bunnyland and How it was Prevented; The Ballad of the Wakeful Dog -"When moreporks take their eerie flight / and enervating breezes stir"; Jim's Ocean Beach; The Digger's Retreat; The Loving Elf; An Anvil Song; Under the Nikau; A Soldier's Song; Nanette's Lover and the Shower. [Reference: Bagnall M499; Dennis McEldowney in Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English (1998), page 640:"A damning review, unsigned but almost certainly by Morton, of a book of verse by one J. Maclennan impelled a pained correspondent to reveal that the author was a sick man who hoped with his book to provide an income for his wife and children in the event of his death."].; 12mo 7"- 7½"tall
Author
J. [John (186 Maclennan
Title
Neptune's Toll and Other Verses
Publisher name
Whitcombe&Tombs [1907], Christchurch
Shipping time
2 - 5 days
Publication year
1907
Edition
First edition
Binding type
Hard cover
Listing condition
Used
Item condition
Very good
Vendor name
Renaissance Books
Vendor rating
Abebof326d