This 1861 catalogue is the first complete catalogue of the Melbourne Public Library and was designed to reflect the prestige of the Library’s collection. It is over 700 pages long, contains a detailed preface about the history of the library, the rules and regulations, records of the ‘monies voted by Parliament’, a sample bequest form for patrons, and the layout of the library building. Designed by Edward La Trobe Bateman, engraved by Samuel Calvert and printed by Clarson, Shallard & Co., the catalogue features botanical illustrations, ‘decorated Initials and Finals’ that reflect the ‘flora of the country’. A list of donations demonstrates the wealth and status of many of the Library’s patrons which include: the Emperor of France, Napoleon III, Sir William A’Beckett (late Chief Justice of Victoria), Lord Overstone and Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria, Charles Joseph La Trobe. The catalogue contains 26,723 volumes of books and is arranged alphabetically by author and title, with the occasional subject and genre headings such as ‘India’, ‘New South Wales’, ‘South Australia’, and ‘Serials’ etc. The catalogue features detailed information about the collection, including the date, place and format of publication, and includes a classificatory index.
The catalogue demonstrates the range of the Library’s collection and the founders’ ambitions of ‘intellectual and moral elevation to be created by a cultivation of works by standard authors’. Containing all the works listed in the previous Guillaume catalogues from 1854-1861, the catalogue features works from all genres and contains numerous volumes from text publication societies and clubs, ‘cabinet libraries’ and serials, such as: 51 volumes from the Chetham Society, 45 volumes of the Biblical Cabinet, and 40 volumes of the Naturalist’s Library. Featured as their own categories within the alphabetical catalogue, the ‘Serials’ and ‘Societies and Clubs’ sections are further sub-divided according to their genres, such as: ‘Archaeological, Historical, Literary and Musical’ and ‘Scientific Publications and Transactions’.
History and science dominate the collection, with literature, ‘travels and voyages’, biographies and law also forming large portions of the catalogue. While British history forms the majority of the history section, the catalogue demonstrates the Library’s aims of providing a comprehensive collection with historical works on numerous countries, places and subjects, including: ecclesiastical history, the ‘factory movement’, India, Java, Jesuits, military history, Prussia and wines. Books on science are equally exhaustive, with natural history, chemistry and botany dominating. The literature section also demonstrates the Library’s wide-ranging selection of prestige texts and authors with classical works in Greek and Latin and modern languages, such as French, Italian, German, Hungarian and Russian. British drama, poetry and prose forms the largest part of the literature section, but the catalogue also features Australian poetry and prose, including works by R. H. Horne, Frank Fowler and Peter Possum (Richard Rowe). Works on art, architecture, and theology also form an important part of the collection, and the catalogue’s index contains a section on the Bible, including foreign translations. Other notable collections in the catalogue are the number of dictionaries, grammars, and philological works featured and the sections on ‘Aborigines’, ‘colonies and colonisation’, ethnology, and phrenology.
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