New Zealand in Colour by Kenneth Bigwood and James K. Baxter and Jean Bigwood

From review: When first published in 1961 this was the first book to present the New Zealand countryside in full colour, based on colour photographs from a single source, and with text written by a New Zealand poet. It has since been into thirteen editions, and sold more than 120,000 copies New Zealand in Colour is the work of a husband and wife team, Kenneth and Jean Bigwood, who travelled and photographed intensively over a long period of time to complete a demanding pictorial assignment. The results of their work are evident in the 55 colour plates which evoke so superbly the complex and ex- citing character of the New Zealand countryside. Not only did the Bigwoods visit familiar scenic areas, but they travelled to more remote places and captured also the unsuspected beauties along the route. The coverage they achieved embraces the whole country and gives a representative and integrated picture of New Zealand and its great variation of scene and setting. Travelling the narrow, thousand-mile length of the two main islands, and often moving across country from coast to coast, they have photographed jagged snow clad alps; gentle cultivated lowlands; native forests- confused and fern-filled; planted forests-trim and timber tidy; volcanic wastelands; scarred forgotten goldfields; lakeland and fiordland; sea coasts and rivers and — deliberately in the background because this is a book of the countryside — New Zealand cities and towns. The text of this book was written by the late James K. Baxter, the leading New Zealand poet of his generation and a man who knew and deeply loved the varied landscapes of his native country. The sensitivity of his words matches the beauty of the photography. Not every worthy place can be illustrated here- New Zealand is too diverse and colourful for that; but the photographs have been chosen to show in honesty and beauty, the living spirit of the land and the character of city, farm and ‘wilderness. This 1962 A. H. & A. W. Reed Ltd. Hardcover is in good condition. Dj worn.

SKU: 1449107 This image is of the actual book.