Melbourne

Hamburg

Neuhauss, (Carl) Otto

Public Record Office Victoria

VPRS 5884

Open access

1854

This series consists of a small undated volume however the watermark on the paper is 1854. The book belonged to Mr.(Carl) Otto Neuhauss, a German merchant. Mr Neuhauss was a shipping agent sent out to Melbourne by the Godeffroy Company. He left from Hamburg on the Dockenhuden in 1850. Mr. Neuhauss returned to Germany in 1858 presumably after trade between Melbourne and Hamburg had slowed significantly. He lived in Melbourne for eight years contributing to Melbournes growing German community donating large sums to the Melbourne Lutheran Church and Professor Neumayers magnetic observatory. Mr. Neuhauss involvement with the Melbourne Public Library is unclear. However, it is possible to assume that he was acting as an agent for the Library not actually ordering the books but selecting a bookseller. According to historian Tom Darragh the librarys first Chief Librarian Augustus Tulk was a fluent German speaker. Nothing is recorded on the blue pages of the volume however six pages of correspondence has been attached. The first pages are lists of books in German from a bookseller, sent from Germany to Australia. The titles of the books were written in Sutterlin script (an old German script). The authors of the various books were written in Latin script. (Scripts identified by Eril Wangerek). In the first few pages of the volume, information is divided into columns listing the number of volumes; authors name and title of publication; the cost of transport and the cost of the volume sent. Prices were recorded in Thaler , Groschen and Pfenning (currency before the German mark 1 Thaler was the approximate equivalent of 3 shillings) as well as Pounds, Shillings and Pence. There was also a column where presumably, the librarian ticked on receipt of the publication. The remaining pages are a letter, presumably to Neuhauss, (they are not addressed or signed), written in German and sent from Berlin. The first few pages are written in the Sutterlin script, the last few paraphrased in Latin script. The letter discusses the various books ordered and why they were ordered. The books ordered covered a wide range of subjects from Grimms Fairy Tales to engineering titles. (Translation provided by Eril Wangerek). The lists in this volume were created and sent to Australia with boxes of books from Germany. The lists verify that what was sent actually arrived in Australia. The lists were also important in recording the prices of the sent publications. The volume was created to keep all the correspondence to O.Neuhauss together. This record documents part of the process of building the collection of the Melbourne Public Library in the 1850s and 1860s, to the purchase of books from overseas.

Manuscripts