Alexander Turnbull (bibliophile)

Alexander Horsburgh Turnbull ( born 14 September 1868 in Wellington, New Zealand, † June 28, 1918 in Wellington ) was a merchant, book lovers, with more than 55,000 copies, owner of the largest private library in New Zealand of his time.

His library was two years after his death, the basis for the Alexander Turnbull Library Collection, which was in the following years, constantly updated and extended. The collection was until 1973 at Turnbull House, Bowen Street, opposite the Parliament building and was then integrated into the National Library of New Zealand.

Early years

Alexander Horsburgh Turnbull was born on 14 September 1868 as the sixth child and youngest son of Mr and Mrs Alexandrina Horsburgh and her husband Walter Turnbull, a Scottish merchant in Wellington. Turnbull's parents came to New Zealand in 1857. His father opened with a partner, the company W. & G. Turnbull and Company, but went with his family in February 1875 returned to England and settled in London. After two years of schooling in Wellington and his primary school years in London, visited Alexander Turnbull 1881-1884 Dulwich College. At the age of eight he began to collect coins, a passion that he should expand later on books.

Time in London

After college Turnbull worked from 1884 to 1888 in the London office of the family business Turnbull, Smith & Company, a textile trading company, interrupted by two trips to New Zealand in 1885 and 1886. Shortly before his second trip to Turnbull bought the book "Hey King country, or, Explorations in New Zealand: A Narrative of 600 miles of Travel through Maori land by James Henry Kerry - Nicholl " (London, 1884). It should be the first book of his collection.

In May 1888, the company Turnbull, Smith & Company was sold. Turnbull enjoyed the freedom to travel, took intensively participating in the London social life, developed his interest in books and knowledge of literature. His interest in New Zealand and the South Pacific region exploring was great. But the Scottish history and English literature found his attention. Already in 1891 were fixed most of the topics of his books collection. The London bookseller Bernard Quaritch then estimated the value of his collection to around £ 1,500.

Time in New Zealand

1892 Turnbull went with his parents back to New Zealand, worked in his father's company in Wellington. After the death of his father in 1897, he took over the responsibility in the company and went into a partnership with the Scottish businessman Nicholas Reid. The commercial success allowed him to continue his collection started in London and greatly expand.

Turnbull revered the English poet and thinker John Milton, of which he had the complete literature and writings. He did not join the colonial society in New Zealand and not the nationalism of the 1890s, however, he collected all the writings, books and documents related to the New Zealand and thus created the first comprehensive library of the fledgling colony. Above all, he supported the first generation of domestic scholars, such as Robert McNab, Stephenson Percy Smith, John Macmillan Brown, William Downie Stewart and Herbert W. Williams.

For his collection he had built in 1916 a specially decorated house in Bowen Street, Wellington. There, the collection was after his death until 1973. Due to his poor health, sold Turnbull 1917 his company to the Wright Stephenson & Co. and stipulated that his collection should go after his death to the New Zealand Crown. He died a year later on 28 June 1918 in Wellington and was buried in Bolton Street Memorial Park in Wellington.

Memberships

Turnbull in 1891 was elected member of the Linnean Society of London, was a member of the Royal Geographical Society, a member of the New Zealand Institute and in 1893 a member of the Polynesian Society. The Lyric Club in London, the Wellington Club and the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, he was also joined by membership. From 1899 to 1913, he assumed the position of Deputy Honorary Consul for Spain in Wellington.

Work

Turnbull was a passionate sailor for many years. At his only literary work includes the description of a voyage through the Queen Charlotte Sound on the yacht Iorangi in 1902.

• Account of a Cruise in the yacht " Iorangi " to Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand. Wellington 1902.