Parliament House Canberra - A Building For The Nation
Edited by Haig Beck
Published by Collins Publishers: Australia 1993
An extraordinary SIGNED copy carrying the signatures of JOHN HOWARD, PETER COSTELLO + 12 More!!
"Parliament House Canberra: A Building for the Nation, edited by Haig Beck and published by Collins Publishers Australia, was first issued in 1988 to mark the completion of Australia's new Parliament House; this example is the 1993 Collins reprint. Lavishly illustrated, the volume explores the architecture, construction, symbolism, artworks and craftsmanship of the building that became the physical centre of Australian federal government. Opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 9 May 1988, the new Parliament House was conceived as a monumental expression of Australian democracy and national identity — making it an extraordinarily appropriate setting for the remarkable political provenance found inside this particular copy.
What elevates this example far beyond the ordinary published book is an extraordinary collection of fourteen original political signatures, boldly applied in marker pen across its endpapers. Clearly identifiable amongst them are John Howard, Peter Costello, Tim Fischer, Alexander Downer, Peter Reith, Amanda Vanstone, Richard Alston, John Sharp, Jocelyn Newman, John Anderson and Ian McLachlan, together with several further signatures. These are emphatically not printed or facsimile signatures: the heavy marker ink can be seen bleeding and transferring through the actual paper, providing compelling physical evidence that these are live, individually applied signatures. While no independent autograph authentication has been undertaken, their appearance, differing hands, ink behaviour and extraordinary concentration within the volume are entirely consistent with an original signed political association copy.
For collectors of Australian conservative and Liberal-National political history, the significance of the group is difficult to overstate. This is effectively a gathering of the political heavyweights who formed the nucleus of the first Howard Government: official Parliamentary records confirm Howard as Prime Minister, Fischer as Deputy Prime Minister, Costello as Treasurer, Downer as Foreign Minister, Reith as Industrial Relations Minister, Vanstone as Employment and Education Minister, Alston as Communications and Arts Minister, Newman as Social Security Minister, McLachlan as Defence Minister, Sharp as Transport and Regional Development Minister and Anderson as Primary Industries and Energy Minister. For admirers and collectors of Australia's political right, this is consequently something approaching Liberal-National Coalition royalty assembled within a single volume — the signatures of many of the leading personalities of one of the most electorally successful conservative governments in modern Australian history.
Indeed, the Howard era proved extraordinarily durable. The Coalition swept to government in the 1996 landslide, with the Liberals winning 75 House seats and the Nationals 19, and Howard ultimately served four consecutive terms as Prime Minister from 1996 until 2007, a tenure surpassed among Australian prime ministers only by Sir Robert Menzies. That historical hindsight gives this collection considerable additional resonance: Howard, Costello, Fischer, Downer, Reith, Vanstone and their colleagues became defining figures of Australian conservative politics at the turn of the twenty-first century. The precise circumstances under which all fourteen signatures were assembled remain unknown, but that mystery arguably adds to the appeal. A book about Australia's Parliament House, apparently passed amongst and personally signed by a remarkable concentration of the men and women who would govern from it, makes this an exceptional Australian political association copy and a highly desirable piece of Liberal, National Party and conservative political memorabilia."
Light wear to dustjacket as shown. 14 Famous Signatures present. Pages are clean and well presented. A nice copy with outstanding provenance in very good condition overall. Please study photos to further understand condition.
