Introduction and User Guide

The full bibliography presented here has been ordered chronologically for the purpose of illuminating Robin Hyde’s publication history. It indicates the manner in which Hyde developed her work in different genres, taking on forms new to her, such as long fiction. It clarifies the gradual decline of interest in Hyde’s texts in the years following her death and the subsequent sporadic anthologising of the most popular poems, interrupted by the publication of Houses by the Sea and the Later Poems of Robin Hyde, edited by Gloria Rawlinson in 1952.

In extending the original bibliographic work by Wellington Library School students, Jennifer Walls (1960) and Margaret Scott (1966), the current bibliography shows the significant resumption of critical interest in 1984. That year marked the re-publication of Dragon Rampant, the first publication of A Home in This World, edited and introduced by Derek Challis, and the publication of Robin Hyde: Selected Poems, edited by Lydia Wevers. This burst initiated a steady stream of publication and re-publication to 2003 and Young Knowledge: The Poems of Robin Hyde, edited by Michele Leggott.

The methodology in this full bibliography of Hyde’s published writing is to order chronologically, where possible by day, month and year, and then by title. Where only year and month of publication is available, an entry appears at the beginning of its month of publication.

Entries for which only a year of publication is verifiable are placed at the beginning of the relevant year and separated from the chronological entries for that year by a line space. They are then ordered alphabetically according to genre, then by title. Listed at the beginning of the publication year are all the individual poems appearing in a volume, as well as the volume itself. Due to the limitations of the database, all poems in any volume in a particular year are listed together alphabetically by title; thus poems appearing in 1937 in A Caxton Miscellany, Persephone in Winter, New Zealand Best Poems of 1937, Wednesday’s Children and Verse Alive are grouped together, ordered alphabetically, at the start of that year.

At the end of each entry, the name or initials under which the item was published is given, followed by a genre category. The categories used are journalism (with sub-categories journal article, newspaper article, magazine article or essay), novel (with possible sub-categories biography or autobiography), poem, short story, volume of poems and, in only one instance, letter. Information as to the inclusion of critical material in a volume is appended to the relevant entries.

The sheer size of the full bibliography has prompted the inclusion of two smaller bibliographies to improve the accessibility of the data offered here. The first is an alphabetical listing of the poems. The intention is to allow a user to identify all instances of publication of a particular poem and then to refer back to the full bibliography for a chronological context for each instance. The second extract from the full bibliography is a chronological listing of short stories and long prose, which picks those works out of the mass of Hyde’s journalism and poetry. Again, the intention is that a chronological context can be gained by referring back to the full bibliography.

This bibliographical project is necessarily a work in progress and can make no claims to being comprehensive or faultless. Hyde’s publishing strategy involved distribution of her texts in geographically disparate areas and in a range of forms of publication. New instances of publication are being uncovered, even in the serials previously searched. Of the omissions of which I am currently aware, the next update to the bibliography will include all Hyde’s signed book reviews from the New Zealand Observer. All corrections, amendments and additions, and comments on the form of bibliography and its ease of use, are welcome via this website.

Acknowledgements and Sources

The bibliography is primarily a compilation, revision and expansion of the work of earlier researchers. Its backbone is a fusion of two important early bibliographies researched by Wellington Library School students Jennifer Walls (1960; 273 entries) and Margaret Scott (1966; an additional 229). Together, Walls and Scott have contributed over a third of the 1,404 entries in the current bibliography as it stands at 22 March 2004. To date, the joint work of Walls and Scott has provided the most comprehensive bibliographical coverage of Hyde’s published writing across the genres. This bibliography grew out of a need to consolidate and update their work.

In terms of Hyde’s journalism, the bibliography is also heavily dependent on the research published by Gillian Boddy and Jacqueline Matthews in Disputed Ground: Robin Hyde, Journalist (1991). Michele Leggott’s research has been important; in particular, her work for Young Knowledge: The Poems of Robin Hyde (2003) provided a major resource. Acknowledgement is also due to Derek Challis and Gloria Rawlinson, most significantly for the resource provided by The Book of Iris: A Life of Robin Hyde (2001).

I am grateful for information and advice given by Mary Paul and Patrick Sandbrook of Massey University. In addition, my research has relied on the work of Jill Beytagh, Lisa Docherty, Alison Jeffreys, Valerie Marshall and the many others who have contributed to the growing field of Hyde studies.

Thanks are due to the librarians, Stephen Innes, Natalie Mahony and Giles Margetts, at the University of Auckland’s Special Collections for their unstinting helpfulness.

Funding for the compilation of the bibliography and for its construction on-line was provided by the Auckland University Arts Faculty’s Flexible Learning Projects Fund, which is administered by the Multimedia Teaching Support Unit.

Finally, my personal thanks must go to Michele Leggott, who conceived of this project, obtained the funding for it and offered it to me, and who has given freely of her time, encouragement and enthusiasm.

Alison Hunt

22 March 2004