Prints Collection
By Sarah Thomas
The University’s Print Collection is one of its most prized treasures. It includes some 7,000 prints – mostly etchings, engravings, mezzotints, lithographs, woodcuts and wood engravings – that date from the fifteenth century to the twentieth. It is based on a gift of 3,700 Old Master prints donated by Dr. John Orde Poynton in 1959, and was further enhanced in 1964 with Harold Wright’s bequest of half his Lionel Lindsay print collection, and prints by his British contemporaries. There are some Australian works, but the majority of prints are European. The Collection is unique amongst Australian university collections; no other university in Australia has a similar collection of international prints spanning five centuries. Some of the highlights include prints by Albrecht Dürer and his contemporaries, the Sadeler Family, Jacques Callot, Claude Lorrain, Rembrandt, William Hogarth, Francisco de Goya and Lionel Lindsay. The Collection was originally intended as a teaching tool for students, and it continues to be used particularly by students of art history and history here at the University.
Currently it can be electronically accessed via The Ian Potter Museum of Art Website at www.art-museum.unimelb.edu.au So you go to ‘Art’, and then follow the links to ‘The collection’, and then ‘Search the collection’ and then search using your own keywords. We are in the process of digitizing the prints, and these images are being attached to the Website as they become available.
The Print Collection is part of the Special Collections at the Baillieu Library. While the prints can’t be borrowed, they can be viewed by staff and students of the University, as well as members of the general public, and that happens in the Cultural Collections Reading Room, which is located on the third floor of the Baillieu Library. All Special Collections material must be pre-ordered for delivery to the Cultural Collections Reading Room at certain times throughout the day. For further information about access to the collection, including opening hours, you should consult the Special Collections Website and the address is www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/special
Photographic copies of most prints in the collection can be purchased, depending on their condition and copyright. For more information see the Special Collections website, or speak to the staff in the Cultural Collections Reading Room.
If further assistance is required regarding access, or assistance with your research, please contact the Print Collection staff via the Special Collections Website.