Pictures on a Page: Towards a History of the Photobook in New Zealand

The term ‘photobook’ is very recent, yet numerous studies now survey histories of its development right back to the invention of photography. This article examines photographic books in New Zealand up to 1970 and concurrently explores definitions of the ‘photobook’ and whether, or to what extent, they can be applied to any of these publications. It considers nineteenth century albums, early scientific publications, and in particular, the books of scenery that have become such a stock item of New Zealand photographic book production. It also looks at a handful of books in the 1950s and 1960s that reacted against the scenic, as well as books of the 1960s inspired by photojournalism.