Wakefield, Edward, Jerningham, Illustrations to Adventures in New Zealand lithographed from original drawings taken on the spot by Mrs Wicksteed et al. Smith, Elder 1845. These illustrations accompany Adventures in New Zealand and include coloured lithographs of landscapes, Maori people and buildings and the beginnings of colonisation. They form an important record of New Zealand at that time. Included are a number of large fold out pictures giving panoramic views of the landscape.
Emma Ancilla Wicksteed (1811? - 1869) was a New Zealand artist who lived at Mount Eliot, New Plymouth and sketched and painted landscapes there and at Wanganui.
Edward Jerningham Wakefield (1820-1879) - known as Jerningham - was the only son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield who was one of the founders of the state of South Australia. He grew up in the shadow of his famous father and acted as his clerk and secretary on a trip to Canada in 1838. He also acted for his uncle Colonel William Wakefield while travelling to New Zealand arriving in August 1839. He then joined the New Zealand Company acting as agent and explorer. However, he fell foul of Governor Robert Fitzroy and was rebuked resulting in his magistrate’s commission being withdrawn. He then returned to London in 1844 and is best remembered for his book Adventures in New Zealand published in 1845 of which this book, selected here as a treasure, is the accompanying volume of illustrations.
Edward Jerningham Wakefield was marked through his life by a "flawed and wasted brilliance " but is credited in Adventures in New Zealand with the careful recording and research of his experiences and observations during his time in New Zealand.
Wakefield, Edward Jerningham, Adventures in New Zealand, from 1833-1844 : with some account of the beginning of the British colonization of the islands, London 1845 RGSSA cat. rgsp 919.3042 W147
Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
© The Royal Geographical Society of South Australia