In recent months our peripatetic art correspondent Ponsonby Willis has been in an absolute seventh heaven. Lucky fellow was given the rare opportunity to peruse the contents of a long line of Ansett Wridgways storage boxes, a small number above, which had not been opened for 30 years , containing a treasure trove of books , ephemera , journals , magazines .
Subjects covered in the eclectic collection included world art-Australian , British, French , Canadian , Chinese, Japanese, Russian-some presentation copies by authors of books on famous artists ; Australian and American architecture ; antiques , silver , Oriental carpets ; Australasian and American art journals ; Australiana , including a tome dealing with documents relating to Australian international affairs 1901-1918 ; feminist literature ; a box of Melbourne Age monthly reviews from the l980s and several containers of ABC radio guides for the same period ; a run of Australian National Gallery Association journals . When Ponsonby comes down to earth from this thrilling experience , he promises to knock out a swag of offbeat posts for the blog , inspired by the grand contents of the boxes .
