The Treasures of Moore's Library

The story

In 1809 the colony of New South Wales was little more than a collection of rudely built dwellings and institutions designed to house convicts and their military guards. But the Reverend Samuel Marsden (who had succeeded Richard Johnson to become the senior Church of England minister in New South Wales) knew the time had come to begin an educative process which would benefit every inhabitant of the colony. While in England he advertised for donations to help found a ‘Lending Library for the general benefit of the inhabitants of New South Wales’. He hoped the library would cover ‘Divinity and Morals, History, Voyages and Travels, Agriculture in all its branches, Mineralogy and Practical Mechanics’. He returned to Australia with a number of donations to the ‘Port Jackson Lending Library’, the very first lending library in the colony.

Today, the remnants of that library survive as part of Moore Theological College.

These remnants, as well as other old or rare books, objects and paper ephemera are stored in the library as “treasures”. They include important theological works as well as items of historical interest.

The collection

The Moore Treasures Collection is a wide-ranging and fascinating trove of historical items including remnants from Marsden’s original lending library, as well as other old or rare books, objects and paper ephemera. Explore some of our treasures below.

A 1611 King James Version of the Bible. This first edition is distinctive because of the errata it contains. One of the most famous mistakes comes in Ruth 3:15, where “she” is incorrectly printed as “he”. Even though the front pages are missing, we can be sure this is a first edition because of the errata.

Incunabula are books printed in the very earliest days of the moveable type printing press. We possess two examples of incunabula; Augustine’s “City of God” (1473) and “Epistles of St Jerome”(1497) which includes an etching by Durer.

The Last Will and Testament of Henry Waterhouse, brother-in-law of George Bass and friend of Matthew Flinders.

Sixti Sinensis Sancta, a quarto from the 16th century which has, as part of its binding, a piece of laid paper from a 14th century manuscript of Gregory’s Second Book of Epistles.

The Rev. CC Godden took several books with him to Omba. The Moore College library has some of them, including two which have affectionate messages from those who gave the books to him.

A Hebrew parchment used by Deaconess Sophie Newton who was a CMS missionary in China in the early part of the 20th Century. This fragment was rescued from a synagogue in Jerusalem in 1922 and given to Dss Newton with the aim of raising money to translate the scriptures into Hebrew, and for a Jewish hospital.

The Rev. Charles Christopher Godden was killed in Omba (now in Vanuatu) in 1906. On the 100th anniversary of his death, Sydney Archbishop Peter Jensen received this ceremonial stick from an official in the village near the place the missionary was murdered, as a sign of sorrow and friendship.

Richard Johnson’s “Address to the Inhabitants of Australia”, which was published in 1794 as the first book intended for distribution in Australia.

The Rev. Frank Cash was the rector of Christ Church, Lavender Bay while the Sydney Harbour Bridge was being built. He was a keen (and very good) amateur photographer, who documented the building of the bridge in over 10,000 photographs. The College has his camera, many of the glass slides he made, and several prints of his most memorable photos, as well as two rivets (as used in the building of the Bridge) which were presented to him upon completion of the Bridge’s construction.

Some papers of Thomas Moore. The founder of Moore College conducted business in England and Australia, and a collection of some business documents throws some light onto life in the earliest days of Sydney.

A Concordance, given to the first Chaplain of the Colony Richard Johnson by John Thornton (a member of the Clapham Sect) which arrived in Australia with the First Fleet. Johnson passed it on to his successor Samuel Marsden, and it came to the Moore College library via the Diocesan library in the 1950s.

An Exposition of the Creed by the Bishop of Chester (1676), which was donated to the Port Jackson lending library.

The Rev. Samuel Marsden was the second chaplain to the colony of New South Wales, taking over from Richard Johnson. The College has 98 of his hand-written sermons.

The gospel of Luke in Latin, printed 1540.

A volume of Cook’s Voyages (1785) which came to the College in 1971 as a bequest from D C Tilghman, an avid collector of Australiana (which went to Moore College) and Americana, which went to the National Library. He asked for the collection to be named after his mother-in-law, Margaretta Mary Woodriff.

The Rev. Edward Coleridge (nephew of the poet) was the Rector of Eton College in England. He was a firm supporter of Bishop Broughton in Australia and Bishop Selwyn in New Zealand. The College has in its possession several letters from both bishops to their English friend and supporter.

A Ceremonial sword was presented to Bishop Chambers in 1952 by the church in Tanganyika, because he helped them “cut through” their difficulties.

The Rev. Nathaniel Jones was a minister, and principal of a theological college called Perry Hall in Bendigo. Later, he moved to Sydney and became the Principal of Moore College, and one of the instigators of Katoomba Convention. One of his students at Perry Hall, and later at Moore College was CC Godden. He would have used this travelling communion set when he visited the sick and other shut-ins, as well as people who lived too far away to attend church regularly.

A prayer book from 1549. This is part of the Croft Collection, which consists of copies of the Book of Common Prayer from the reign of every British monarch since the short reign of Edward V.

Contact us

If you would like to know more about the Moore Treasures collection, or you have a specific question about one of the items on display, please contact Special Collections Librarian, Erin Mollenhauer. You can also take a look at the Donald Robinson library site. We look forward to hearing from you.

The Treasures of Moore’s Library

The story

The collection

Contact us

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The Treasures of Moore’s Library

The story

The collection

Contact us

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CRICOS provider code:00682B

Visit our Centres: