From Tauranga City Library’s archives
A monthly blog about interesting items in our collections.
Published throughout the first half of the 20th century, are a run of eleven Bradbury’s Illustrated Series, booklet guides to various districts of the North Island. Journalist Ernest. E. Bradbury (1868-1955) produced the booklets and maps, having established publishers E. Bradbury & Co., in Wyndham Street, Auckland.
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Front cover of Bradbury's East Coast, 5th Edition.
E. Bradbury & Co. would drum up business by proposing to councils and chambers of commerce that they purchase the booklets for distribution through libraries and hotels (Bay of Plenty Times, 1915). Te Ao Mārama – Tauranga City Libraries hold the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th editions of booklets on the Bay of Plenty region, in the Sladden Collection.
Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries' copies of the Bradbury's Illustrated Series in the Sladden Collection in a climate controlled room.
As well as an inclusion of photographs of the region, the booklets are described in their titles as “showing the resources and potentialities of this extensive district : with a short descriptive history from the early days up till the present”; including “scenic attractions”; and “industry and resources”.
Photo "A Bay of Plenty Peach Grove" in Bradbury's Bay of Plenty, 1919.
While the sections titled Early History and Maori War give an inaccurate historical account of Tauranga, other sections of the guides were likely to be useful for travellers, and a good resource for locals to reference as well. The Means of Access section provides details of how the settlements within the region could be reached from Auckland. Of note are the travel times in the early 1900s, for example, Ōpōtiki, 97 miles from Rotorua, is an eight-hour motorcar journey, including all the stops to small towns (Bradbury, 1919, p.3).
The booklets changed over the span of the years of their production. "Bradbury's Bay of Plenty" was consolidated into "Bradbury's East Coast" by 1938, which also covered Gisborne and other East Coast settlements. Later editions contain glossier paper and better defined images. A few hand-coloured photographs are included in the 5th & 6th editions.
A coloured photograph in Bradbury's East Coast, 5th Edition.
A few fold-out maps, including local advertising, are attached inside each booklet. They are described in one review as “a very useful map that should be of the greatest benefit to motorists” (Te Puke Times, 1928, p.3).
Map of the Bay of Plenty from Bradbury's Bay of Plenty, 1928.
Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries' reference: Map 20-288 Pae Korokī
Advertising sales revenue was another income source aside from the booklet sales, for E. Bradbury & Co. The advertisements are now useful records of various Tauranga businesses, their owners and locations over time.
Advertisements for Tauranga businesses in Bradbury's Bay of Plenty, 1922.
Nursing Home advertisement in Bradbury's Bay of Plenty, 1949.
Bradbury likely created some of the more deluxe business advertisements with photographs that he took himself. He would travel around the country, photographing prominent establishments, urban settings, kainga Māori and outdoor scenic areas.
Image of Devonport Road, Tauranga,
Collection of Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato 1961/4/185
His images, produced with gelatin dry plate and glass plate negative techniques, would appear in other publications such as the New Zealand Graphic and the Auckland Weekly News.
A Well-Known East Coast Port, 1909, Auckland Weekly News -
Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19090603-04-05
Digitised images from Ernest Bradburys' collections can be found at various institutions, including Auckland Libraries, Waikato Museum, and the Auckland War Memorial Museum, which holds 780 of his glass plate negatives.
References:
Auckland Weekly News, & Bradbury, E. (1909, June 3). A well-known East Coast port [Photograph]. Supplement to the Auckland Weekly News, p. 4. Auckland Libraries, Auckland Weekly News Collection. Retrieved November 30, 2024, from https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photos/id/198725
Bay of Plenty Times. (1915, April 21). Chamber of Commerce. Bay of Plenty Times, 43(6361), p. 2. Retrieved November 30, 2024, from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19150421.2.7
Bay of Plenty Times. (1915, May 5). County Council. Bay of Plenty Times, 43(6376), p. 4. Retrieved November 30, 2024, from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19150505.2.10
Bradbury, E. (1915). The settlement and development of the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand: showing the resources and potentialities of this extensive district: with a short descriptive history from the early days up till the present (1st ed.). Auckland, N.Z.: E. Bradbury.
Bradbury, E. (1919). The settlement and development of the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand: Early history, industries and resources, scenic attractions (2nd ed.). Auckland, N.Z.: E. Bradbury.
Bradbury, E. (Ed.). (1922). The settlement and development of the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand: early history, industries and resources, scenic attractions (3rd ed.). Auckland, N.Z.: E. Bradbury.
Bradbury, E. (1938-1939). The settlement and development of the East Coast North Island, New Zealand : Gisborne, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua (5th ed.). Auckland, N.Z.: Bradbury.
Written by Michelle Bradbury from the Heritage & Research Team, Te Ao Mārama - Tauranga City Libraries.
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