We are beyond thrilled that Wellington historian Elizabeth Cox (pictured above with Publisher Nicola Legat, left, at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards ceremony) has won the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction for Mr Ward’s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street — a book that uses surveyor Thomas Ward’s giant map and historic images to tell marvellous stories about a vital capital city, its neighbourhoods and its people at the turn of the twentieth century.
The judges described Mr Ward’s Map as: ‘Innovative, engaging and inherently human. Mr Ward’s Map is a celebration of research, storytelling, and archives. Elizabeth Cox deployed one historic cartographic document as the foundation for a superbly written publication that bridges multiple world views and time periods — highlighting one source and how it resonates in the contemporary moment. Across 560 pages, Cox unpacks the 88 sheets of Mr Ward’s map, alongside carefully selected archival photography and illustrations. While anchored in Victorian Wellington, Cox presents a range of complex issues and histories that have universal reach. This skilfully interweaves impacts of colonial land alienation on tangata whenua, reveals imbalances and intersectional experiences of race, class and gender, and offers a reflection of societal changes, and what remains the same.’
Congratulations to Elizabeth and also to Jo Bailey, the creator of the book’s wonderful design.
