Oak Knoll

Sir George Grey, governor of New Zealand, South Australia and the Cape Colony, was an outstanding British colonial statesman in the nineteenth century. Less well known of Grey is that we he was also an obsessive collector of rare books and artifacts, which he selflessly bequeathed to the people he governed. Through these items, we are given a look into Grey's less -publicized private life. There are actually two "Grey Collections" in the southern hemisphere, each with almost identical statues and similar collections. He assembled an extraordinary collection and then donated the entire assemblage to Cape Town in 1861. He continued to purchase rarities and other manuscripts and donated his second collection from his private library to Auckland. Grey gathered items from classic European book culture, as well as artifacts and items from the indigenous peoples of the southern continents and islands to preserve their culture. Due to his Victorian upbringing, he had a very real hunger for knowledge in his pursuits of the rare. A timeline of Grey's life is included after a lovely foreword by Christopher de Hamel and some acknowledgements from the author.
Everyone seeking a glimpse into the life of Sir George Grey from a viewpoint other than his famous political life in Cape Colony, South Australia, and New Zealand or anyone wanting to read about a fascinating collector of the rare will enjoy this volume. There is also great appeal for those who are intrigued by the indigenous cultures of the regions in which Grey lived and those who have a love of classic European manuscripts.