he MCC Librarians will discuss some of the rare items that have entered the collection since their last Melbourne Rare Book Week presentation in 2019, with a highlight being an illustrated scorecard from an international cricket match at the MCG in 1862.

2023 marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio of the Plays of William Shakespeare. This lecture will place this milestone of literary publishing in the broader context of similar folios containing the work of other writers.

The poets of the First World War – they were all British men, weren’t they? The literary canon of such poetry is cast in stone. What about allied poets or, just perhaps, enemy poets? Of course, only those with the experience of battle could write about it – or is this poppycock?

Prior to the 18th and 19th centuries, Antarctica was the great unknown: how could nature survive in temperatures averaging -57 C? And just how large was the continent? Join reference librarian and Antarctic history buff Andrew McConville for this special tour.