/taxonomy/term/1235/0 en /media/photo/robert-holt-carpenter <p> Photograph of a painting of Robert Holt Carpenter sitting with a book in his hand. </p><img src="/files/images/robert-holt-carpenter.mini.jpg" alt="Media file" /> /media/photo/robert-holt-carpenter#comments New Zealand Book Month bookshops wellington photos Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200 6240 at http://www.nzhistory.net.nz /media/photo/armed-chartist-book-shop <p> Sketch of Robert Carpenter&#8217;s bookshop as it appeared in 1875. </p> <h3>The eccentric bookseller&#160;</h3> <p> Well-read settlers often complained that colonial New Zealand was a cultural desert, but numerous small public lending libraries, mechanics' institutes and commercial 'circulating' libraries served the voracious demand for books. Wrigglesworth's Circulating Library in Wellington offered 'Upwards of 500 volumes, All standard works'. Chapman's, established in Auckland in 1855, was the largest circulating library in the country, with more than 4000 volumes. </p><img src="/files/images/carpenter-bookshop.mini.jpg" alt="Media file" /> /media/photo/armed-chartist-book-shop#comments New Zealand Book Month bookshops wellington photos Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200 6237 at http://www.nzhistory.net.nz /media/photo/harry-seresins-coffee-gallery <img src="/files/images/dailygrind-022.mini.jpg" alt="Media file" /> /media/photo/harry-seresins-coffee-gallery#comments bookshops cafes drink wellington Wellington cafe culture photos Thu, 01 Jan 1970 12:00:00 +1200 1697 at http://www.nzhistory.net.nz