Spencer: The Gold Seeker. SIGNED by author: Crumpton, E.W.

Publisher: Batyprint New Zealand Limited, 1979, first edition.

Very good hardback with jacket; some compression to spine-ends; light marks to bottom edges; large gift inscriptions to ffep; inscribed to named previous owner by author; some tanning and marks inside boards and to end-papers; binding firm; minor marks. Jacket has light edge-wear with some minor marks.

This two-part biography of pioneering on the West Coast of NZ's South Island in the 1860s era of the gold rushes that attracted many miners and prospectors from the diggings of America and Australia. Henry Spencer, the "gold seeker" of this book arrived from the latter after he abandoned his studies as a medical student in Melbourne Part one revolves around Henry Spencer and his experiences on the gold fields. The second relates to Spencer's daughter Lizzy, born in a hut on the diggings. She later married Albert Crumpton and was the author's mother. Eric Crumpton compiled this excellent account of life on the fields, of pioneering with its privations, loneliness. challenges, successes and inevitable "characters":, from various accounts, old letters, and from stories related to him by his mother over many years. and recorded (in note form) at the time, and also from the recollections of other old-timers. In his introductory notes the author says he is not a "professional writer" and while that may be so, his story is refreshingly simple while presenting a convincing setting for the pioneering time being recounted. 193 pages, maps & photos.

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