European explorers of the Pacific in the 18th and early 19th centuries faced a problem – how to describe the people they met and report what they had seen and found. From Cook onwards, a serious expedition included artists and scientists in its ship's company. An ambitious journey of the 19th century was the third voyage of the French explorer Dumont d'Urville, from 1837 to 1840. It was just before the invention of photography, when phrenology, the study of people's skulls, was the latest thing. D'Urville chose to take on the voyage an eminent phrenologist, Pierre-Marie Dumoutier, to preserve likenesses of people by making life casts. When the expedition returned to France, the casts were displayed, and later stored in the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, to be joined eventually by other casts from Dumoutier's collection, including those of the d'Urville and Dumoutier families. All were overtaken by photography and history. Fiona Pardington first learnt of the life casts in 2007, when a chance conversation initiated a four-year project. It took her from Auckland to the Musée de l'Homme, as she researched and photographed some of more than fifty casts of Maori, Pacific and European heads, including casts of her Ngai Tahu ancestors. This book publishes these photographs and coincides with the opening of a major travelling exhibition. The photographs are extraordinarily beautiful, evocative and spiritually powerful images. They recover likenesses and revive the life force of Dumoutier's subjects, eliciting our empathy and fascination with a world we can never really know. This is a rich and engaging book. With essays by leading scholars in Pacific history, art and photography, on subjects as diverse as phrenology and cast-making, the voyage, and the identity of the Maori casts, it will appeal to anyone interested in nineteenth-century encounters between voyagers and the peoples of the Pacific, or contemporary art and photography.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 245 x 330 mm

Publication Date: 31-12-2011

Stunning photography capturing the beauty of New Zealand's North Island

Bind: paperback

Pages: 48

Dimensions: 245 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 01-12-2016

This is a book of stunning scenery – a photographic celebration of some of New Zealand’s best natural beauty.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 48

Dimensions: 245 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 01-12-2016

The Yield is the vivid and lyrical new collection from award-winning poet Sue Wootton. These poems are sensorially alive, deeply attentive to language, the body, and the world around us.Down in the bone the word-strands glimmer and ascendoften disordered, often in dreams,bone-knowledge beating a path through the body to the throatlabouring to enter the alphabet.- 'Lingua Incognita'Wootton addresses subjects as various as the fraught relationship between medical institutions and individual suffering, the disintegration of the polar icecaps, the energising power of solitudeand the rewarding demands of creativity and love.This is a collection about give and take, loss and gain; about sowing, tending and reaping.Sue Wootton brings her characteristic linguistic dexterity, exuberance and versatility to every page. The Yield is rich harvest.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 84

Dimensions: 160 x 235 mm

Rua - Series 2 Ngā Tae reveals wonderful insect characters in full colour. Vibrant illustrations present the challenge of guessing in both Te reo Māori and English Learn colours and insects in Te reo Māori and English Edited by Reo Māori experts Fern Whitau and Kirsten Jerram Bilingual English and Māori text on every page Everyday sentence structures used repetitively New words on each page build vocabulary Phonetics guide and picture glossary Handcrafted illustrations paired with well considered design

Bind: hardback

Pages: 22

Dimensions: 147 x 185 mm

Publication Date: 11-03-2017

Rua - Series 2 Find the shapes hidden in our kiwiana illustrations. Learn another handy simple sentence and the shape of things in both English and Te reo Māori

Bind: hardback

Pages: 22

Dimensions: 147 x 185 mm

Publication Date: 11-03-2017

Rua - Series 2 Practice your bilingual counting skills with Te Kaute. Have fun finding all our favourite toys in the pīwari pikitia.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 22

Dimensions: 147 x 185 mm

Publication Date: 11-03-2017

Tahi - Series 1 Kākahu teaches one of the most useful and practical instructions for young whānau members to know, getting dressed. Learn how to dress for Te Reo Māori success.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 18

Dimensions: 147 x 185 mm

Tahi - Series 1 Using high frequency kupu Karahere introduces us to the all-important pēpi vocab of everyday animals. Animal noises are of course optional.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 18

Dimensions: 147 x 185 mm

Tahi-Reo Pēpi first series is aimed at 0-5 year old's and their whānau members. Find simple, repetitive sentences you will use in everyday situations and plenty of new kupu for your vocabulary. The carefully rendered illustrations are created with aroha and will be a delight for all readers. Boxed set containing Kākahu - Getting Dressed, Kararehe - Animals, and Kanohi - My Face from series 1

Bind: hardback