Rare books can be ideal gift

By MARGIE THOMSON

When you're sick of up-to-the-minute stuff, and of standing in a queue with a bestseller in your hands, why not consider timelessness instead?

Step inside Anah Dunsheath's rare books shop on High St in Auckland and let the dry smell and reverential ambience settle your Christmas nerves. It's quiet and dim in there, and the leather spines, standing as straight as Victorian gentlemen around the ceiling-high shelves, embrace you quickly in the sense of another, more gracious age. It's a little like stepping into C.S. Lewis' wardrobe, as fashion-mad High St retreats behind you.

If you have someone in your life who is spectacularly hard to buy for - a father, say, or a husband, brother or son - Dunsheath could solve your problem. "Men? Easy, easy!" she insists.

She leads the way to the sports section, for starters. The Boy's Modern Playmate from 1891 is an attractive volume, featuring vigorous cover drawings of strapping men playing cricket, cycling and fishing. (Yes, Dunsheath agrees, a sense of irony or of humour can greatly add to one's appreciation of these relics from simpler times.)

There are early rugby books galore - for instance 1924's Rugby Football, which mentions the New Zealand visit to England, books about other manly activities such as trout-fishing, sailing and cricket, or more general sporting books such as the handsome, leatherbound Baily's Sporting Magazine from 1888, for $195.

Should this difficult man be interested in architecture, you may thrill him with Jackson's Architecture of 1925, bound in half-calf, Fergusson's Handbook of Architecture, for $420, or an engraved architectural print from 1730 for around $100.

If he's a lawyer, he may be interested in one of Dunsheath's books covering trials of the past, such as The Notable British Trials series from the early 20th century, or authentic accounts of trials of Australian convicts.

Who could fail to be excited by a first-edition Charles Dickens (Nicholas Nickleby for $550) or a first edition of T.S. Eliot's Later Poems from 1941, for $120.

"Or just a nice old classic," Dunsheath suggests, "like this collected Wordsworth from 1923, full calf, with marbled edges, for $140."

Charming curiosities such as Shakespeare's stories in shortened version for children, quaintly illustrated, cost just $40. Or, for the showoffs who love to add several-volume sets of leatherbound books to their collections just for the look, three handsome volumes of Gibbons' Roman Empire collectively cost $680.

For someone interested in natural history there are beautifully illustrated books by the botanists and naturalists of the 19th century, such as the Natural History of Selbourne by Gilbert White, published in the 1870s.

Or books by or about Charles Darwin, such as a pristine 1883 edition of The Descent of Man for $660.

Just as popular are the books on Arctic or Antarctic exploration. The large, original 1914, two-volume Scott's Last Expedition, being his posthumously published journals, costs $750.

Travel books are ever in demand (such as the red and gold-embossed Wonders of Italy from 1928, full calf and full of photos), as are 19th-century books about New Zealand history (how about New Zealand for the Immigrant, Invalid and Tourist for $240?)

Victorian photo albums are a novel idea, if you've the heart to remove the black and white faces of past generations in favour of the coloured prints of today. A small, full morocco, gilt-edged one costs $220, while the much larger Balmoral album, complete with music box and lithographed feature pages, is a heftier $650.

While indisputably being jolly good value, these amounts may well be more than you want or are able to fork out. So consider something to hang on the wall - Victorian fashion engravings for just $55, old maps for around $70, or 19th-century photos for around $70. Or magazines from the 1930s - science fiction, sporting, film - can make a great buy at around $30 or less.

If you want to go for small, suede-bound works of literature such as Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame they could be yours for around $26.

Dunsheath, who has been in the antiquarian and secondhand books business since she was a teenager (she had a part-time job in a shop in Queen's Arcade, and loved it so much she quit university and eventually bought the shop) buys her books from all around New Zealand, as well as Australia and England.

It's clear that some of her clientele are habituees, discerning, knowledgeable, and possibly a bit dustily eccentric. But others seem just to be there on the impulse, browsing, probably with Christmas on their minds. It seems a good idea.