Early printing In The Pacific Islands

This talk by Suliana Vea, Geraldine Warren and Anthony Tedeschi will explore the history of printing in the Pacific region. They will delve into the Turnbull Library’s rich holdings and show some of the earliest printed texts, with a special focus on the use of tapa as a printing substrate.

Early Pacific texts from the Turnbull Library collection
Although printing first occurred within the broader Pacific region as early as the seventh century in China and by the sixteenth century in Mexico and Peru, it was not until the nineteenth century that the first printing presses arrived in the South Pacific Islands with the coming of various Christian missionary societies.

This talk by Turnbull Library staff members Geraldine Warren, Anthony Tedeschi and Suliana Vea will cover the arrival of some of these societies in the South Pacific as background to the establishment of the first presses in Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa and other islands.

They will then delve into the Turnbull Library’s rich holdings and show some original specimens of the earliest texts that were printed, with a special focus towards the end on the use of tapa as a printing substrate using further examples from the collections.

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About the speakers
Anthony Tedeschi has been with the Turnbull as Curator Rare Books & Fine Printing since 2015. He holds advanced degrees in English Literature and Library Science, with a specialisation in rare books librarianship, and has published on various aspects of book history. He was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship to undertake research overseas into the book-collecting practices of Alexander Turnbull, whose bequest just over 100 years ago and continuing legacy have been celebrated during ATL100.

Suliana Vea is the Research Librarian Pacific at the Alexander Turnbull Library. Born and bred in Wellington, she is of Tongan descent with ties to Ha'apai, Kolomotu'a and the West side of Tongatapu.

Geraldine Warren has been the New Zealand and Pacific Curator at the Alexander Turnbull Library since October 2021. She holds a MLIS (2008) and MCW (2019) from VUW, Wellington and was part of the Te Papa Tupu programme established by the Māori Literature Trust in 2020.

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