Books as social currency: Robert Coupland Harding and the field of book collecting in New Zealand 1880-1920

<p>“Here, indeed, lies the whole miracle of collecting,” Jean Baudrillard asserted, “it is invariably oneself that one collects” (“Systems of Collecting” 12). If Baudrillard's premise that a collection is itself a representation of the collector, then how can we read a person through his/her private library? There have been several large and important studies produced on the three preeminent figures in New Zealand book collecting: Sir George Grey, Dr Thomas Hocken and Alexander Turnbull. However, to understand book collecting as a whole during the highly active period at the turn of the twentieth century, it is vital that we investigate 'minor' book collectors alongside our esteemed 'major three'. This thesis explores the private library of Robert Coupland Harding (1849-1916), an internationally recognised expert on printing and typography, whose trade journal Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review (1887-1897) was celebrated as a remarkable achievement. Very little documentation of Harding's life exists. However, one tantalising artefact discovered in a Wellington antiquarian bookshop is the basis for this research: the auction catalogue of Harding's extensive private library. Focusing on the New Zealand-related section of the catalogue, this thesis examines the book collecting field in New Zealand 1880-1920. Applying Bourdieu's theories of capital, habitus and the field of cultural production, the thesis examines the social practice of book collecting during this period. Three case studies from Harding's library illustrate some key trends in the book collecting market, and help to build a picture of Harding's social networks and the influence this had on his collecting habits. The thesis also describes the collecting identity of Robert Coupland Harding, placing him in his circle of fellow book collectors. Describing a model of book collecting practise and presenting a method for categorising book collectors, this thesis argues for the recognition of lesser known book collectors and the contribution that they made to the field of New Zealand book collecting.</p>

Books as social currency: Robert Coupland Harding and the field of book collecting in New Zealand 1880-1920

<p>“Here, indeed, lies the whole miracle of collecting,” Jean Baudrillard asserted, “it is invariably oneself that one collects” (“Systems of Collecting” 12). If Baudrillard's premise that a collection is itself a representation of the collector, then how can we read a person through his/her private library? There have been several large and important studies produced on the three preeminent figures in New Zealand book collecting: Sir George Grey, Dr Thomas Hocken and Alexander Turnbull. However, to understand book collecting as a whole during the highly active period at the turn of the twentieth century, it is vital that we investigate 'minor' book collectors alongside our esteemed 'major three'. This thesis explores the private library of Robert Coupland Harding (1849-1916), an internationally recognised expert on printing and typography, whose trade journal Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review (1887-1897) was celebrated as a remarkable achievement. Very little documentation of Harding's life exists. However, one tantalising artefact discovered in a Wellington antiquarian bookshop is the basis for this research: the auction catalogue of Harding's extensive private library. Focusing on the New Zealand-related section of the catalogue, this thesis examines the book collecting field in New Zealand 1880-1920. Applying Bourdieu's theories of capital, habitus and the field of cultural production, the thesis examines the social practice of book collecting during this period. Three case studies from Harding's library illustrate some key trends in the book collecting market, and help to build a picture of Harding's social networks and the influence this had on his collecting habits. The thesis also describes the collecting identity of Robert Coupland Harding, placing him in his circle of fellow book collectors. Describing a model of book collecting practise and presenting a method for categorising book collectors, this thesis argues for the recognition of lesser known book collectors and the contribution that they made to the field of New Zealand book collecting.</p>

Pump up the jam: how music in brand advertising can create deeper connections with consumers

As our visual landscape becomes saturated with advertisements and media technologies, the advertising industry is using sound in more ways than ever before to open new acoustic channels between brands and consumers. Through analysis of scholarly literature, advertising industry publications, and three recent advertising campaigns and online commentary around those campaigns, this MRP highlights the way advertisers attempt to use sound and music as a “universal language,” as a way of accessing emotion, and as a technique for engineering responses in audiences. The scholarly literature review identifies two broad approaches to research on music in advertising: the first focuses on harnessing the power of sound to enhance the impact of advertising messages whereas the second approach contextualizes and critiques the use of sound in advertising. Informed by concepts and themes in the scholarly literature, the MRP then turns to an analysis of the use of sound in three specific advertising campaigns: Oreo’ s 2013 “Wonderfilled,” Nike’s 2016 “Unlimited Together,” and Adidas’ 2017 “Original Is Never Finished.” Finally, the MRP identifies dominant perspectives of sound and music among advertising professionals through analysis of fifteen AdAge issues, a popular advertising trade journal, using a coding scheme based on the work of Powers (2010), Scott (1990), and Serazio (2013). Together, these three methods provide an in-depth understanding of the dominant perspectives of sound and music which shape the use of these modalities in the advertising industry.

Pump up the jam: how music in brand advertising can create deeper connections with consumers

As our visual landscape becomes saturated with advertisements and media technologies, the advertising industry is using sound in more ways than ever before to open new acoustic channels between brands and consumers. Through analysis of scholarly literature, advertising industry publications, and three recent advertising campaigns and online commentary around those campaigns, this MRP highlights the way advertisers attempt to use sound and music as a “universal language,” as a way of accessing emotion, and as a technique for engineering responses in audiences. The scholarly literature review identifies two broad approaches to research on music in advertising: the first focuses on harnessing the power of sound to enhance the impact of advertising messages whereas the second approach contextualizes and critiques the use of sound in advertising. Informed by concepts and themes in the scholarly literature, the MRP then turns to an analysis of the use of sound in three specific advertising campaigns: Oreo’ s 2013 “Wonderfilled,” Nike’s 2016 “Unlimited Together,” and Adidas’ 2017 “Original Is Never Finished.” Finally, the MRP identifies dominant perspectives of sound and music among advertising professionals through analysis of fifteen AdAge issues, a popular advertising trade journal, using a coding scheme based on the work of Powers (2010), Scott (1990), and Serazio (2013). Together, these three methods provide an in-depth understanding of the dominant perspectives of sound and music which shape the use of these modalities in the advertising industry.

Bravura Beginnings: Paul Leni and the Art of the Prologue

This chapter looks at the conclusion of Leni’s film-related work in Germany and the beginning of his employment with Universal Studios. “Bravura Beginnings” argues that the bridge between these two phases of Leni’s career was his work on a series of prologues: live stage productions that led into others’ films. Relying heavily on contemporaneous newspaper and trade-journal accounts, this chapter examines Leni’s work immediately before and after his arrival in Manhattan in 1926. In particular, it explores the prologues he staged in Berlin for Ernst Lubitsch’s Forbidden Paradise, E. A. Dupont’s Varieté, and Herbert Brenon’s Peter Pan, and two he created for Universal: ‘The Police Sergeant’s Story,’ performed as a lead-in to Tod Browning’s Outside the Law, and ‘Tremendous Trifles,’ which served a similar introductory function for William Seiter’s Rolling Home. This chapter posits that Leni’s work on these live productions paved the way for his brief but successful career as a Hollywood director and carried themes and motifs that later appeared in his films for Universal.

Students as participants of consumer research

The issue of conducting consumer research based on student samples has been discussed in scientific journals on economics and management since the 1970s. The large scale of experiments and surveys involving students, as well as the relatively common perception this social group as research representatives of other groups (e.g. adults or generation Y), raise methodological doubts. Students are not typical consumers, therefore they should not be the first or the only choice of researchers, as has often been the case. The aim of the paper is to define both the opportunities and limitations connected to using student samples in consumer research, and to show the scale of this phenomenon in studies conducted in Poland. A content analysis (supported by a frequency analysis) of 64 articles from ‘Handel Wewnętrzny’ (‘Internal Trade’) journal from 2009–2018, containing research results in which students were either the only research group or one of two groups, was carried out. The results of the analyses partly confirm the methodological problems signaled in foreign literature. In Poland, there is no overuse of student samples in scientific research. The problem lies rather in the lack of diligence in the description of research methods and the generalization of research results to broadly defined populations (e.g. young consumers).

Language Consistency and Stock Market Trading Volume

An information-theoretic measure of language consistency is constructed from the text of 13 years of trade journal articles on the biotechnology industry. This measure is then related to the trading volume of a representative portfolio of biotechnology stocks. Findings indicate that language consistency and trading volume have a joint (positive) influence on each other over the long term; however, sharp drops in consistency are also predictive of transient spikes in trading volume. The significance of these findings is discussed in relation to modern theories of legitimation and the economics of surprise.