Part Sheets & Large Blocks

Courtesy of : https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/

MUSEUM OF NEW ZEALAND TE PAPA TONGAREWA

Full Sheets

Courtesy of : https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/

MUSEUM OF NEW ZEALAND TE PAPA TONGAREWA

SG11

Two Pence value on white paper. A few shades in this group. This the 'Deep blue' shade.

In 1858, Richardson changed to a white paper which again had no watermark. Most of the paper was very thick and soft, but stamps were also printed on a harder and less thick paper. The 2d was printed first in pale blue and then in ever deeper shades of blue. This colour listed in CP as only on 'thick, soft' paper.

1857-61.
No wmk.
Imperf.
Soft white paper
Recess printed by J. Richardson Auckland
SG 11 / A2c(4)

SG10

Two Pence value on white paper. A few shades in this group. This the 'blue' shade.

In 1858, Richardson changed to a white paper which again had no watermark. Most of the paper was very thick and soft, but stamps were also printed on a harder and less thick paper. The 2d was printed first in pale blue and then in ever deeper shades of blue.

1857-61.
No wmk.
Imperf.
Hard or soft white paper
Recess printed by J. Richardson Auckland
SG 10 / A2c(3)

SG9

Two Pence value on white paper. A few shades in this group. This the 'pale blue' shade.

In 1858, Richardson changed to a white paper which again had no watermark. Most of the paper was very thick and soft, but stamps were also printed on a harder and less thick paper. The 2d was printed first in pale blue and then in ever deeper shades of blue.

1857-61.
No wmk.
Imperf.
Hard or soft white paper
Recess printed by J. Richardson Auckland
SG 9 / A2c(2)

SG8a

Two Pence value on white paper. A few shades in this group. This the 'deep ultramarine' shade.

In 1858, Richardson changed to a white paper which again had no watermark. Most of the paper was very thick and soft, but stamps were also printed on a harder and less thick paper. The 2d was printed first in pale blue and then in ever deeper shades of blue.

1857-61. No wmk.
Imperf.
Hard or soft white paper
Recess printed by J. Richardson Auckland
SG 8a / A2c(1)

SG8

Richardson prints on white paper. Several different papers were used but these can be divided into two distinct groups - thin, hard (VM) or thick, soft (HM)

Qty. printed - @200,379 between 1858 - 1861

In 1858, Richardson changed to a white paper which again had no watermark. Most of the paper was very thick and soft, but stamps were also printed on a harder and less thick paper. The 1d was printed in shades ranging from dull orange to orange-vermilion.

1858
No wmk.
Imperf.
White paper
Recess printed by J. Richardson Auckland
SG 8 / CP A1d

SG7

This stamp is in the precise shade of the 1858 printing by Richardson on 'no wmk' white paper. An unsevered pair is known with a Dunedin cancellation on a cover front showing an Auckland arrival postmark of JA 19 1857.

This may have come from a single sheet used by Richardson as a trial. Some stamps have obviously managed to find their way into Edward Staffords possession and then onto his wife, who has used them to send the below letter to her husband.

Exceedingly rare.

1857 (Jan):
Richardson printing
1 d. dull orange
wmk. Large Star
on white paper
SG7 / CP A1b

The famous 'Castle' cover front bearing a horizontal pair of vibrant colour, touched to large margins, right hand stamp with vertical scissor cut at top and small printer's creases, lightly cancelled by "18" numeral handstamps of Dunedin in black with AUCKLAND / NEW ZEALAND arrival cds at left (January 19, 1857). This cover is mentioned in the Robson Lowe Encyclopædia, volume IV on page 404, and in the Stanley Gibbons Part One footnote - this is the only recorded multiple of this stamp - just eight examples being recorded, two of which are 'Dwarf' examples and one of those is in the British Library. An extraordinary and very rare piece. Certs. Odenweller (1990), BPA (1990) Gi = £ 60'000.rnProvenance: M.P.Castle, President of the Royal Philatelic Society (1913-1917); Collection Charles Lathrop Pack, Harmers, New York, Dec 1944, lot 1358; Collection Dale-Lichtenstein, Harmers, London, 14 May 1990, lot 377; Collection Joseph Hackmey, Spink Shreve, New York, 19 Feb 2009, lot 1074.
Catalogue 227: EUROPE & OVERSEAS

It can be said that this stamp (A1b) is recognisable with absolute certainty only when found used and on cover before 1862 (almost certainly in 1857).

John Richardson of Auckland – Printer

John Richardson of Auckland – Printer

John Richardson was born in London in 1807. His father William was a painter and plumber. In 1838 John married Rosina Edwards in London and ini­tially they migrated to Australia. From there they came to Auckland on the ‘Shamrock’ in 1841. By 1842 Rosina was running a small school in Chancery Street while John was working for the Auckland Newspaper and General Printing Company. They are both list­ed on the Roll of early settlers and descendants in the Auckland Province, although the date of arrival and vessel is not shown.

By 1849 John had established his own printing press at Windsor Terrace, Mechanics Bay and was advertising in the Southern Cross seeking business. On 31 May 1851 he published the Auckland Independent and Operatives Journal, which he printed each fortnight at Williams Street, near the Mechanics Institute. According to Main it did not last long and it is not mentioned by Scholefield. However, Dakin says it is ‘worth looking at for the record of the activities of various radical persons.’ John Richardson gained historical impor­tance in another printing endeavour when he undertook the first printing of postage stamps in New Zealand. The Colonial Secretary’s Office in November 1855 gave him an order to print stamps in values of one penny, two penny and one shilling in ‘a quantity equal to what had been obtained from England.’ On 13 December 1855 some 29,000 one penny stamps, more than double the number ordered, had been delivered and accepted by the Colonial Treasurer. At this time Auckland was the seat of Government and Richardson must have been known as a capable printer to secure such a con­tract.

Richardson’s second publishing venture undertaken in the same year, has been described by Scholefield as follows: ‘Auckland journalism early distin­guished itself by its devotion to particu­lar schools of thought. In 1855 there was a free-thought newspaper, John Richardson’s Trumpeter.’ The only issues of The Trumpeter that appear to survive are two copies published in March 1857. They are identified, respec­tively, as Volume 1 No. 1 and No. 3, so if publication began in 1855 there may have been a period of discontinuation or such significant change to the publica­tion that it resulted in the above volume sequencing. In 1857 the paper’s full title was The Trumpeter and Universal Advertiser, which accurately describes the contents. It came out three times a week as a give-away with a circulation of four hundred copies. We do not know when publication ceased.

The arrival of Charles Southwell (1814­ -1860) is often seen as a defining point in the development of freethought in New Zealand. The Auckland Secular Society formed in 1854 was fading away by the time he arrived in Auckland from Sydney on 29 January 1856 onboard the William Denny. By 11 December that year he had founded the Auckland Examiner, at first a weekly paper.

It is noteworthy that the extant issues of The Trumpeter record it as ‘Printed and Published (in connexion with the Auckland Examiner) by J Richardson and T J Sansom, at the Trumpeter Office, Wyndham Street, Auckland.’ (The Trumpeter records the Examiner office as also being at Wyndham Street, so their shared offices were near the site of the present Shakespeare Hotel.) The recipro­cal imprint in the Auckland Examiner in 1857 stated it was ‘Printed and Published by J Richardson at the Auckland Examiner and General Printing Office, Wyndham Street.’ (By 1860 the imprint had added the name of T J Sansom and the paper was published twice a week, on a Wednesday and Saturday.) Here we have clear identification between the two publications, including common publishing as opposed to mere printing.

These 1857 issues of The Trumpeter dis­played prominent advertising for the Auckland Examiner and notice of a lec­ture by Charles Southwell at the Mechanics’ Institute. However the absence of editorial content makes it dif­ficult to call them a ‘free-thought news­paper’ as Scholefield does, but without the advantage of seeing either the preced­ing two years’ publications or those after 1857, there is a lack of certainty on this point.

While the Auckland Examiner was not especially anti religious, it was scathing in its attacks on cant and corruption in all forms. Southwell gave public lectures, often on religious topics (opposing reli­gion in schools for example) and contin­ued to edit the paper until its last issue on 7 August 1860. Scholefield describes the Auckland Examiner being brought out by Southwell, ‘Richardson and others’ (sic) as ‘always bright but often controversial and provocative… he expressed his views and voiced the free thought of the day.’

Wood recognises that John Richardson was in partnership with Charles Southwell in establishing the Auckland Examiner, but Pearce only identifies him as the printer. As the pub­lisher is responsible for content, sales and distribution as well as production, Richardson’s role was of considerable importance in this undertaking, more than merely that of a printer.

While Southwell has been described as a pioneer of free thought in the colony, little attention has been paid to those who went before and later assisted him in his publishing venture. Clearly John Richardson and his partner, Thomas J. Sansom, were in sympathy with Charles Southwell's secular philosophy, they certainly would have known his views and his colourful past, including a period in prison for blasphemy, when they linked their two publ;ications so closely. Their support may well have been influential in Southwell getting this publication started. John had already acted on his radical views when he established the 'Auckland Independant and Operatives Journal' prior to publishing. The Trumpeter and his subsequent involvement in the Auckland Examiner.

John Richardson later moved his printing business to Victoria Street, where he is recorded in the Wises Business Directory for 1878, which also appears to have been his domestic address and he died there in 1883 survived by two children. It is not known if his wife was still alive at the time of his death.

Name	Richardson, John
Year/Location	1842 Chancery Street

Name	Richardson, John
Year/Location	1843 Mechanics Bay

Name	Richardson, John
Year/Location	1844 Mechanics Bay

Name	Richardson, John
Year/Location	1845 Windsor Terrace
Note	Status: owner of property/occupant Occupation: printer

DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS, VOLUME 4, ISSUE 194, 10 MARCH 1849

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XII, Issue 807, 23 March 1855

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVII, Issue 1336, 28 September 1860

RICHARDSON.
Funeral Notice. NZer, 6 May 1854.
On Friday morning, 5th May 1854, Louisa, age 2 years 6months, youngest daughter of J Richardson, Printer, Wyndham Street.

RICHARDSON.
Herald, 15th June 1865.
At the residence of Mr E Cording, Courtney Place, Wellington, on the 8th inst, Mr Walter Hope Richardson, Printer, 2nd son of Mr J Richardson, of Auckland, age 23 years.


DEATHS. New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6778, 8 August 1883

OBITUARY. New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6782, 13 August 1883, Supplement

The Star (Hawera & Normanby Star) 14 August 1883

The death is announced, at the advanced age of 76, of Mr. John Richardson, perhaps the oldest member of the printing craft in New Zealand. He worked off upon a mangle the first copies of the earliest Auckland newspaper, and since then Mr. Richardson's name has been closely identified with the progress of his craft in this place. He was a hardworking, steady, and intelligent man, and may also be said to have died with his harness on, seeing that he kept his frame at the Herald to the last. In his younger days he displayed some literary ability, the proof of which is contained in a book that he wrote upon the field of Waterloo.

Manawatu Standard 20 August 1883

John Richardson,, the oldest printer in New Zealand, has died at Auckland. He recently worked as a compositor in the Auckland Herald, though in his 75th year.

<>	Symonds Street Cemetery, Auckland
Abstract	The Anglican Sexton's list has John Richardson at Block P 87. The St Paul's register has John Richardson buried 8 August 1883 aged 76 years of Victoria Street West.
Subjects	Richardson, John, d.1883