Seeking a Fugitive

Our collection of the Printed Catalogues of the Institute is complete with one very important exception. We have access to copies of all but the very first catalogue. It appeared in late 1849 or early 1850, and does not seem to be held in any Australian library, nor to be listed by Ferguson.

There is however clear evidence that it existed. Firstly, in an announcement in the Launceston Examiner on 21 April 1849 that a "catalogue will shortly be printed". Then in the same newspaper on  19 Jan 1850,  an announcement that "Catalogues of the library are now printed, and may be obtained from the librarian, during the hours the library is open - price one shilling."

According to the accounts of the LMI for 1849-50, two hundred and fifty copies of the catalogue were printed and sales of catalogues to Oct 1850 had realised income of £3/5/- (i.e. 65 copies had been sold.)

The Annual Report for 1850 gave the total size of the collection as 1293 volumes, and the "fugitive" catalogue would be an invaluable guide to the principles upon which the early collection was organised.

Because a second catalogue appeared in 1858, the original had relatively brief currency and no doubt most copies were discarded at that time. It can only be hoped that a copy may have survived somewhere.

One publication which has survived from 1850 is a pamphlet of nineteen pages entitled 'The Intellectual improvement of the working classes: a lecture delivered at the Launceston Mechanics' Institute, April 4th, 1850', by the Rev. Charles Price. Copies of this pamphlet are held in the National Library, the State Library of Victoria and by LINC Tasmania.

The pamphlet has been digitised by SLV which holds a copy formerly belonging to the Melbourne Public Library (title page illustrated).

The statement of publication is particularly interesting – "Reprinted by desire and at the expense of tradesmen and mechanics of Launceston" – as it goes directly to the original aims and objects of the institution.

Perhaps the mechanics of Launceston were responding to a call to arms from Rev. Price in his lecture. Speaking of Mechanics' Institutes and Schools of Arts he said:

If such institutions do not flourish in every community where the arts of life are practised, it must be the fault of the mechanics themselves. If they do not flourish in any spot, there the labouring classes are falling behind in the onward spirit of the age. The facilities of their formation and maintenance are so many and cheap, that nothing but idle indifference or sordid demoralisation can prevent their rise and progress. Let the will to improve be present, and the way is wide open.(p9)

Publications of the Institute

Reference has been made previously to publications of the Launceston Mechanics' Institute, most notably its Jubilee History by Ernest Whitfeld (1892) and of course the Printed Catalogues and Annual Reports issued over many years.

At least five lectures given at the Institute are known to have been issued in printed form;

West, John, The fine arts: a lecture, delivered at the request of the Committee of the Launceston Mechanics' Institute; (Launceston : Printed at the Examiner Office, 1848.)

Price, Charles, The intellectual improvement of the working classes: a lecture delivered at the Launceston Mechanics' Institute, April 4th, 1850..[Launceston, Van Diemen's Land :s.n.,c1850 printing : (Launceston :J.S. Waddell)          

Ewing, Robert Kirkwood, Lecture replying to objections against phrenology, delivered at the Mechanics' Institution, on Thursday, Sept. 16, 1852. Launceston: Henry Dowling, c1852.     

Aikenhead, James, 1815-1887, Principles of political economy, Launceston : The Author, 1856 (Launceston : J.S. Waddell, Examiner)

Cheek, J. W., Protection: as it affects the farming industry of Tasmania : A lecture delivered ... at the Mechanics Institute, Launceston ... Nov. 1st, (Launceston :National Protection Assn. of Tasmania, c1888.)      

All of these pamphlets are now very rare, as is the most ambitious publication undertaken by  the Institute; 

The LITERARY CHATELAINE : a Souvenir of the Launceston Mechanics Institute Bazaar, and Gift Book for home friends. Tasmania: printed by Charles Wilson, York-street, Launceston, 1858.

Among the identified contributors were William Carr Boyd and Samuel Prout Hill, but most contributors chose to offer their work under noms-de-plume, such as 'Châtelar', 'Silenzio' and 'Juvenis'. The image below, of the title page, was sourced from the National Library's copy in the Petherick Collection.

 

Revenue from sales of the Literary Chatelaine went to fundraising for the Institute's building. The following review of the publication from the Launceston Examiner (2 Mar 1858, p2) gives some idea of the character of this unusual collection;

REVIEW. We have received a copy of this little book. It is called in the preface "a collection of trifles." We are told that the name is derived from the chain which the ladies of castles in the middle ages used to suspend the household keys, &c., but which modern ladies employ for more fanciful and ornamental purposes; and the editors wish that the book thus named "should partake of the characteristics of both bygone and present Chatelaines,"-the special merit being that the articles are "all of genuine Tasmanian workmanship." The circumstances under which the book is produced, and its modest pretensions as an essay in the comparatively untried field of Tasmanian literature, must, to a certain extent, disarm criticism. The labors of the editors in selection must have been long and arduous, for out of the contributions sent, which appear to have been more than sixty, only twenty, or one-third, are inserted. Seven pages are taken up with "answers to correspondents" and many of the contributions have furnished the editors with an excuse for some severe though probably just remarks. ... After reading them, and the editors' comments, the suppression of the rest will please all but the authors. Perhaps, however, it would have been better to have said nothing about the rejected pieces. Their authors will hardly derive much consolation from the assurance that "with a little more practice they will write remarkably well," and we fancy the editors themselves will be disappointed in the "hope to hear from them again next year."

This fascinating miscellany has been digitised and may be viewed through the National Library of Australia's Trove discovery service.

Another LMI publication, or at least a proposed publication, is currently a mystery. Between September 1844 and May 1845, the advertisement below appeared in the Launceston Examiner.

It appears that the book may never have been published, perhaps because the subscriber's list was not filled. However it is especially interesting that the Institute, in its very early days, would have considered undertaking such an ambitious project; and one so closely aligned to its educational objectives.

The Friends of the Launceston Mechanics' Institute are endeavouring to obtain copies of all LMI publications, including its printed catalogues, and indeed any ephemera such as member's tickets, invitations to events and admission tickets. Donations of any such material relating to the Institute would be most gratefully received.