The origins and cultural context of the Danse Macabré
Speaker: Elizabeth Milford, RACS Archivist
The Dance of Death flourished in fifteenth century Europe but what were its antecedents and why was the theme so pervasive? The first Dance of Death mural was painted on a wall in the cemetery of Les Innocents in Paris, and was a catalyst for other Dances of Death, most importantly the series of woodcuts by Hans Holbein, printed in 1524 – 1525. Three centuries later, his work was still being copied, and the theme was embraced by composers such as Franz Liszt and Camille Saint – Saëns. This talk will discuss its origins, and specifically the fascination with death and decay that became ubiquitous in the late Middle Ages.
Presented by: Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Council Room, 250 – 290 Spring St, East Melbourne
I was invited to arrive early and sketch in the Historical Collection.
Literature lovers know Samuel Johnson as the dictionary maker and subject of James Boswell’s biography. Most know him as a poet, an essayist, and the founder of English criticism. Much of this work is still in print, but the addicted collector seeks out Johnson’s hidden, often anonymous dedications, prefaces and editorial work, the titbits that are hard to find. John Byrne has been collecting Johnsonian material for 60 years. He will show rare material from his library and share stories about where and how he found it.
Presented by: The Johnson Society of Australia at Kathleen Syme Library and Community Centre, Multipurpose Room 1, 251 Faraday Street Carlton
How Fashion Gave Birth to Art Deco: Fashion illustration evolves into a new style of art
The Art Deco style first emerged among a group of young artists in Paris who wished to rejuvenate the depiction of French fashion. This development evolved into Art Deco in the years around the First World War. It came to a peak at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1925. Professor Browne has assembled a collection of original French fashion magazines and images from the first half of the 20th century. He will share some of these with you, and show how the developments in fashion illustration led to the full flowering of the Art Deco style.
Presented by: City of Melbourne Libraries at East Melbourne Library
I arrived early at State Library of Victoria for the first event and did a few sketches outside.
Judging a Book by its Cover:Fine bindings from State Library Victoria’s Rare Books collection
Speaker: Daniel Wee
We’ve all heard the saying “never judge a book by its cover”– but when it comes to the world of fine bindings, aesthetics are everything. From luxurious leathers to bespoke intricate gold tooling, fine bindings invite us to engage with books on another level. Judging a book by its cover, in this case, is not shallow–it is a way of honouring craftsmanship, context, and the enduring power of beauty in bookmaking. Join Daniel Wee, Senior Collection Curator, History of the Book as he shares a selection of beautiful fine bindings from the Library’s Rare Books collection.
Presented by: State Library Victoria at State Library Victoria, Digital Laboratory, 328 Swanston Street Meet at the Swanston Street Welcome Zone
Picturing the World of Jane Austen: An examination of the illustrations of Austen’s novels
Jane Austen has painted in our imaginations a vision of the English world that she inhabited over 200 years ago. The original editions of her six novels had no illustrations, but from the late 19th century, many artists have attempted to enhance her words with pictures drawn from their own imaginations. Professor Browne will discuss a selection of these images, mainly drawn from his extensive collection of illustrated editions of Austen. He will ask the audience to judge whether a picture is worth a thousand words of her writing in this, the 250th anniversary year of her birth.
Presented by: City of Melbourne Libraries and Jane Austen Society of Melbourne at East Melbourne Library, Meeting room, Level 1,122 George Street, East Melbourne
An intimate conversation about the iconic cookbook author Isabella Beeton
Speaker: Tim White
Isabella Beeton’s Book of Household Management was one of the most significant and commercially successful British cookery books of the nineteenth century. Its appearance marked a significant change in the way in which British cookery books were published, marketed and embraced. We will be exploring Mrs Beeton’s personal history and her contributions to cookery book publishing in Victorian Britain and the British Empire, before considering the convoluted publishing history of one of the English language’s most famous cookery books and all its descendants.
Presented by: Books for Cooks at Books for Cooks Bookshop 115 – 121 Victoria Street, Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne
Tastes from several of the ‘Beeton Books’ will be served, and various editions and versions of her books will be on display and for sale. Please join us as we discuss Isabella Beeton’s contribution to modern cookery and to rare books.
The Cowlishaw collection, which aims to illustrate the history of medicine and its development from themes such as witchcraft and monsters into a science, is a library of rare books acquired by physician and bibliophile Leslie Cowlishaw in the early 20th century. It includes incunabula (printed books before 1500), alongside works by important classical authors of medicine such as Hippocrates, and early anatomical works such as those by Andreas Vesalius and Johann Remmelin. This 2025 Cowlishaw Symposium will include talks about the Black Death, Vesalius, Aurelius Cornelius Celsus, Remmelin, and Al – Zahrāwī.
Presented by: Royal Australasian College of Surgeons at 250 – 290 Spring Street, East Melbourne
Since her death more than fifty years ago, Georgette Heyer’s novels have continued to sell in the millions, in countless editions. But it is her first editions with their dust jackets intact that entice book collectors. Today, an early Heyer first edition with a fine jacket can sell for as much as $1500 and it has become increasingly difficult to find copies from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. However, it is not only their rarity that makes Heyer’s novels intriguing–it is also what they reveal about their author and about the changing ways in which she was perceived by her publishers and her public throughout her long career and since her death.
Presented by: The Johnston Collection at East Melbourne
The Johnston Collection is a place where people meet art and artists.
The Johnston Collection is a multi award-winning and critically acclaimed museum that invites creatives from the broader visual arts and design communities to re-interpret the Collection through a regular program of re-installation and interventions of the permanent collection.
Reference librarian Alissa Duke will explore some of the unique and noteworthy titles acquired during the early years of the Supreme Court Library, after it was established by Redmond Barry in 1853. These early acquisitions by the Library highlight and reflect the interests and needs of Victorians and the Victorian legal profession at that time, and encompass rare and specialised subject matter. Interestingly, a number of these early acquisitions continue to be published, and are purchased and used by the legal profession
Setting up the day before. Book Pillows out to display : some non-legal books
BENTHAM’S Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, new edition 1823
CABALA, sive Scrinia sacra : mysteries of state and government in letters of illustrious persons 1663
PUFFENDORFS Law of nature of Nations 1749
DOCTOR and student by Muchall 1815
BURKE’S A Genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire. 1860
CATALOGUE of the London traders, tavern, and coffee-house tokens current in the seventeenth century Burn, Jacob Henry. London : printed for the use of the members of the Corporation of the City of London, 1855.
POGONOLOGIA: Or A Philosophical And Historical Essay On Beards 1786
and some legal books – we have been purchaseinf McGregor on Damages soince 1812 and still purchase the current 2024 edition, We do not discard books. so have every edition. I had them out on display
Samuel Pepys was a keen observer of daily life in Restoration England. Rake, book collector, Fellow of the Royal Society and father of the Royal Navy, his legacy lasts to this day. Through his diary – first printed 200 years ago – millions of readers have relived the Restoration, the Fire of London, the Plague, and other important events of the period. Aside from historical events, Pepys’ diaries reveal life and manners, costume and song, court intrigues, food and drink and the tangible atmosphere of multi – layered London. Join Mike O’Brien as he explores this enigmatic polymath and book collector.
Presented by: Royal United Institute Services Victoria
Over 45 events between 24 July and 2 August in the 11 th year of the Melbourne Rare Book Week. , culminating in the Melbourne Rare Book Fair , in its 51st year. All events are free. Have been the official sketcher on location since 2016. Each year I take the week off work and sketch at as many events as I can, sharing my sketches with the MRBW and MRBR Teams and the organisations that I sketch at for them to use in any social media.
I will be doing a blogpost every few days or maybe everyday, as I keep my own personal record of the events. On my sketchbook pages I sketch on location, and write the event name, place, organisaiton etc.
On my blog posts, I will also add the information about the session from the MRBW program descriptions.
This is as much about sharing with you as about keeping my own record. I hope/plan to write my own thoughts about my time at these events,
Melbourne Rare Book Week Day 1 Thursday 24 July 2025
I attended two of the three events
William Strutt’s Victoria the Golden: Sketches of Early Melbourne
Victoria’s Parliamentary Library is the second oldest library in Victoria. The highlight of its collection is William Strutt’s illustrated album Victoria the Golden. Strutt arrived in Melbourne in 1850 and captured key events in the colony, from the goldrush to the departure of the Burke and Wills expedition. Later, in England, he compiled his sketches into albums, aware of their historical importance. Join Alisa Bunbury, art historian and curator, to learn about Strutt and his years in Victoria, followed by a rare viewing of the album, alongside other Strutt material held by the Library.
Victorian Parliamentary Library. The parliamentary library was completed in 1861. It continues as a fully functional library used by members of Parliament and staff. The parliamentary library holds more than 50,000 books, and reports.
I was invited to arrive early to sketch inside. I have been to Parliamtary Library a few times as a Librarian and for MRBW. I arrived very early and sketched for 30 minutes outside.
I was then shown around the rooms that were going to be used and sketched.
Tha talk – fascinating.
Viewing the books – people moved a lot around the viewing tables, where library staff explained what was on display
Melbourne Rare Book Week Day 1 Thursday 24 July 2025
Join historian Jonathan Burdon for this illustrated lecture as he delves into the early medical practitioners in Melbourne and the Port Phillip District of New South Wales (now Victoria) – who they were, where they came from, their experiences in town and country, and their notable contributions to the Colony.
Presented by: The C.J. La Trobe Society at Tonic House, 386 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Charles Joseph La Trobe was so controversial in so many ways. Relatively little is popularly known about him, and yet he achieved so much during his tenure as Superintendent of the Port Phillip District and as Lieutenant-Governor of the colony of Victoria.
The official first evening talk is presented by the La Trobe Society. It begins with drink and food and chatting to lots of friends, familiar faces and new people.
It is an incredibly busy week and I will gradually add all of my sketches, and thoughts.
I add them to Instagram daily alissaduke1 and Facebook Alissa Duke Art.
Last week I posted my sketches from 2007 one week Paris holiday. This week I am revisiting that holiday in a 2012 Sketchbook Project, with the theme Travelogue. See it HERE
In 2012 I was asked to write a blog post on my travel sketching Travelogue by the amazing Cathy Johnson, who introduced me to watercolour pencil. Today, I am posting this 2012 blog. It is as relevant and meaningful to me now as it was then.
At the end of today’s post I reflect on where I am now in 2025.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Travel sketchbook thoughts : Alissa Duke
Thoughts on creating my Travel Sketchbook
I have had these thoughts going through my head for a while and I wanted to put them in an organised version on paper. The catalyst has been the Sketchbook Project that I am working on this year (more about that later) and wanting to share my learning experience anyone else who is interested.
Looking back, I always enjoyed reading books that were illustrated travel journals and sketchbooks. I enjoyed them for their illustrations as well as reading about other people’s travels. They are always more interesting if they are about a city or country I want to or have visited, especially the United Kingdom ( I am in Australia).
This interest began many years ago with books such as David Gentleman’s Britain (and many others in the series) and Fabrice Moireau sketchbooks, to more recently, Taking a Line for a Walk by Christopher Lambert, An Eye on the Hebrides by Mairi Hedderwick and Lorette E Roberts Singapore. Secrets of the Lion City. (and many, many more books) . (I am looking forward to Danny Gregory’s upcoming book “An Illustrated Journey”).This is all pre-internet/self publishing era. But these are usually edited, formatted, composed, cleaned up, lovely small font with commentary, they are quite lengthy and published after the journeyNow I have many online favourites.
I realised that I wanted to create my own sketchbooks in my drawing style when I travel. They would be a narrative, day to day, capturing my travels, whether local, interstate or overseas. As the sketchbooks would be created as I travel, I won’t have the luxury of all of the above editing factors. But I do have the luxury of being able to have an approach in my mind, a concept of how to approach a page composition and what works for me. That is the stage I am at now.
For the past few year’s I have been drawing everyday, in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook, using watercolour pencils and/or ink. I draw at home, on buses, in queues, sitting on stairs, at cafes. So I am comfortable with how and when and where to draw.
I also know how I draw at the moment. I am at ease drawing objects, food and paper. I am not so good at buildings and vistas. But architecture is an important feature of a city or town and so I want to include it, the trees, roads and sky. I have been considering how it is best for me to capture a scene with these in it. And people – people are the life of the city, so I must include them too.
Sketchbook travel Journals
I currently draw my pre-trip preparation – drawing my packed bag, or things in preparation – my sketch-kit, passport and currency. I also always draw at the airport, and on the airplane. (a good way to pass the time) So I am comfortable with the first few pages of my travel sketchbook.
I am entering the 2013 Sketchbook Project and have chosen the theme : Travelogue.Paris 2007. I am revisiting my 2007 holiday to Paris, as if I was there, drawing as much then as I do now ! My sketchbook is based on my diaries, photographs I took and where I thought I would have drawn at the time, as well as souvenirs I bought. Although this is created in retrospect, all the time I thought how would approach future travel sketchbooks. I still have a few pages to complete, as it is not due to be sent away until January 2013. The journal can be viewed here Travelogue Paris 2007
My Travel Sketchbook :my thoughts
Over the 18 double pages of the Sketchbook Project, I have experimented with composition, lettering and maps. It is different paper and size of my usual sketchbook and I have had to squeeze five days into a limited amount of pages. have come to the following conclusions
it will be a combination of on the quick on the spot sketching and more detailed drawings
leave first page or two of each day blank – at end of day I could draw maps, streets walked that day, rail/metro routes caught.
draw objects such as tickets, souvenirs, food, headings also at the end of the day in my hotel room. There is time and space to draw. If there is a good view from the room, I can draw it everyday.
MAPS. If I colour the roads or areas between the road on a map I can match them with other colours I have used on the page, bringing it all together. Below are examples of maps and date experiments
leave lots of white space – I can always fill it in later if it looks too sparse.
write commentary about how I feel, think, react to things, smells, places but not too much. I will probably keep a separate diary. I have read a very good book by Dave Fox called “Globejotting : how to write extraordinary travel journals”. I am not a writer, but it had some great hints.
Re: buildings and vistas
just try and draw a section
leave the top, bottom or sides unfinished.- lines drifting off
only colour some parts
don’t try and fill the page – only use part of the page
it is like a little vignette., with a little character and insight, but not too much
don’t try and get caught up in the detail and try and leave this to a ” close up ” drawing later if I get the chance
Reading over what I have written it seems a little pedantic in places but it has been a very valuable creative experiment.
Of course this is all very well in writing,
My 2025 thoughts on my 2012 thoughts
I haven’t changed many thoughts or my style or my approach. I am amm as passionate about sketching now as I was then. I have run Travel Sketching with Watercolour pencils classes since I moved to Melbourne in 2015. I haven’t done any in a while, but revisiting this has got me thinking about running these again.
I have become a lot more confident in my ink pen linework. I started using a Lamy Safari Joy ink pen in 2011 and still use one today. The ink flows so smoothly and I love how it feels in my hand.
I am more confident in drawing building and people. I love to include these in my sketchbooks, as I had planned and hoped.
I have not got my head around:
maps and letter and writing.
I had a six week holiday in England last year and filled four sketchbooks, but did not include any of these. I even took a separate book for writing in, but did not use it. Next visit next year !!!
I sketch everyday, and it is part of my life. I discovered watercolour pencils in 2009 in Kate (Cathy) Johnson’s Watercolour pencil online course. From then I was in love with watercolour pencils and what they could do and that is my chosen medium. I use ink pen now and then, but never use a paint palette.
Today is Bastille Day and I thought that I would post my first travel sketchbook. It was a week in Paris in 2007 with some friends. I had been given a small pocket 13 x 9 cm Moleskine Van Gogh Museum sketch book. It is not watercolour paper, but I had not discovered watercolour pencils, so they are all graphite pencil, probably 2B.
Next week my blogpost will be my 2013 Sketchbook Project of reimagining my 2007 sketchbook with my 2013 knowledge and skills. See you then !
The day before the class I drew some of the objects from around my own apartment for practice.
The Johnston Collection is a house museum of Georgian fine and decorative arts in a historic Melbourne townhouse.
It is a unique opportunity for a small group to sketch ‘on location’ at The Johnston Collection. We start with a cup of tea or coffee, and become familiar with watercolour pencils and how to use them. Then we try out new skills and pencils and explore the ground floor rooms of The Johnston Collection’s exhibition house, Fairhall. Everyone selects objects to record in their sketchbook, and record their impressions.
No equipment or previous experience is required, a sketchkit is supplied on the day – just bring enthusiasm.
The current exhibition SWAGGER is inspired by interior decoration and the performance of fashionability, Swagger examines the life of an English gentleman of the 1700s and 1800s. Each room of Fairhall, an 1860s townhouse in East Melbourne, has been re-imagined to evoke the worlds of Regency rakes, dandies, military figures, and men of business and leisure.The adornment, surroundings, and behaviour of fashionable gentlemen reveal their unique tastes and style.
I filled in some time waiting for the class to arrive and sketched some of a frame of a painting in the room.
Here are some earlier sketches I did on location.
This event is supported by The Colin Holden Charitable Trust.
Everyone had a lovely time and had lots of questions to ask along the way. I think some of them may continue to be inspired and motivated to keep sketching when they got home.
I look forward to ongoing involvement with The Johnston Collection and to see ther next reinterpretation of the house in September.
I dived into my box of 126 Faber Castell watercolour pencils to try to match the colours of my nail polish and shoe ribbons. I try to match these to wear with my black work outfit everyday.
While it is not important to have exact colour match when sketching, sometimes I like to.
I also have lovely vintage suit that I wore to Goodwood Revival last year. I have been wearing it this week and really wanted to try and capture it on paper. I also documented its history on the page.
The colours I experimented with were
Phthalo Green
Pine Green (in my sketchkit)
Helio Turquoise
Derwent Inktense Apple Green
Derwent InktenseTeal Green
Here are the Faber Castell greens and blues to choose from
I also just started sketching a beautiful big bunch of ranunculas (buttercups) today that I will continue with over the next few evenings after work.
Tonight it was all about exploring the colours and thinking about the page.
Magenta (in my sketchkit)
Rose Madder (in my sketchkit)
Middle Purple Pink
I like to scatter them across two pages in my Moleskine 13cm x 19 cm watercolour sketchbook. It is not a botanical art work and it will have that unfinished looked and some flowers won’t have water added to the pencil on the page
