55 Hard to Find Digital Vintage Books on Maori and New Zealand Colonization History

55 Hard-to-Find Vintage Books on Māori & New Zealand Colonial History — Digital Collection

Explore Aotearoa New Zealand’s early history through a remarkable collection of 55 digitised vintage books and historical texts covering Māori history and traditions, early European contact, missionary activity, settlement, colonisation, travel, ethnography, mythology and regional histories.

Drawn largely from nineteenth- and early twentieth-century works, this collection brings together material that can otherwise be time-consuming to locate individually. It is especially useful for readers interested in New Zealand history, Māori studies, genealogy and whakapapa research, colonial history, historical research and primary-source material.

Please note: these are historical works written in the language and intellectual context of their time. Some contain outdated, colonial or culturally insensitive terminology and interpretations. They are offered as historical source material rather than as modern accounts of Māori culture or history.

Subjects represented in the collection

• Māori history, traditions, mythology and oral histories
• Early encounters between Māori and Europeans
• Missionaries and Christianity in nineteenth-century New Zealand
• European settlement and the New Zealand Company
• Colonisation, land settlement and surveying
• Māori art, carving, moko and material culture
• Greenstone / pounamu
• Tribal and regional histories
• Early travel and settler narratives
• Polynesian history and nineteenth-century ethnology

Authors and historical figures represented include Elsdon Best, S. Percy Smith, Horatio Gordon Robley, Samuel Marsden and others.

Digital format

This is a digital product only. No physical books will be shipped. The files are reproductions of vintage and historical publications and may include PDF and/or eBook formats. Scan quality varies according to the age and condition of the source material, and some volumes retain marks, typography or imperfections from the originals.

After purchase, your digital download access will be delivered electronically.

Books included

1. Among the Maoris; or, Daybreak in New Zealand — a record of the labours of Samuel Marsden, Bishop Selwyn and others
2. An Account of New Zealand; and of the Formation and Progress of the Church Missionary Society's Mission in the Northern Island — Rev. William Yate
3. An Account of the Settlements of the New Zealand Company
4. The Ancient History of the Maori, His Mythology and Traditions — Vol. 1
5. Colonial Surveying with a View to the Disposal of Waste Land
6. A Dark Chapter from New Zealand History — James Hawthorne
7. An Earnest Address to New Zealand Colonists, with Reference to Their Intercourse with the Native Inhabitants (1867)
8. East Coast (N.Z.) Historical Records — compiled by Bishop William L. Williams (1932)
9. Folk Tales of the Maori — A. A. Grace
10. Annals of the Diocese of New Zealand
11. The British Colonization of New Zealand
12. Chronological List of Some Noteworthy Events in the History of New Zealand Health Services
13. Glimpses of Maori-land — Annie R. Butler
14. Hawaiki: Original Home of the Maori — Percy Smith
15. Information Relative to New-Zealand Compiled for the Use of Colonists
16. Information Respecting the Settlement of New Plymouth, in New Zealand
17. Ko nga Moteatea, me nga Hakirara o nga Maori he Mea Kohikohi Mai (1853)
18. Latest Information from the Settlement of New Plymouth, on the Coast of Taranake, New Zealand
19. Letters from Canterbury, New Zealand; with a Map of the Province
20. Letters from Settlers & Labouring Emigrants in the New Zealand Company's Settlements
21. Maori and Polynesian: Their Origin, History, and Culture
22. Maori Lore — James Izzett
23. Maori Tales and Legends
24. Maori Tatu and Moko
25. Mythopoetic Maori — Elsdon Best
26. Narrative of a Residence in Various Parts of New Zealand
27. Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand, Performed in the Years 1814 to 1815 — Vol. 1
28. New Zealand and Its Aborigines (1845)
29. New Zealand and the New Zealand Company
30. New Zealand: A Narrative of Travels and Adventures During a Residence in That Country Between 1831 and 1837
31. Poenamo: Sketches of the Early Days of New Zealand
32. Polynesia: A History of the South Sea Islands, Including New Zealand
33. Polynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race
34. Pounamu: Notes on New Zealand Greenstone — Horatio Gordon Robley
35. Reasons for Promoting the Cultivation of the New Zealand Flax
36. Savage Life and Scenes in Australia and New Zealand — Vols. 1 & 2
37. Some Account of New Zealand, Particularly the Bay of Islands and Surrounding Country
38. South Island Maoris — Canon Stack
39. Spiritual and Mental Concepts of the Maori — Elsdon Best
40. Tangata Maori — Rolf Boldrewood
41. Te Ika a Maui; or, New Zealand and Its Inhabitants
42. Te Tohunga: The Ancient Legends and Traditions of the Maoris — W. Dittmer
43. Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand (1823)
44. The Ancient Maori — George H. Wilson
45. The Art Workmanship of the Maori Race in New Zealand
46. The Aryan Maori — Edward Tregear
47. The New Zealanders (1823)
48. The Six Colonies of New Zealand
49. The Stirring Times of Te Rauparaha
50. The Story of Te Waharoa
51. The Lost Continent of Mu — James Churchward
52. Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders (1856)
53. Traditions of the Maoris of the West Coast
54. Tura and the Fairies & Over Worlds and Tu
55. Waikare-moana — Elsdon Best

55 historical works in one downloadable collection — a substantial digital reference library for exploring the complex history of Aotearoa New Zealand.