It belonged to William Barker McEwan, who established the Dunedin Public Library. He brought it to New Zealand from his Scottish home in Edinburgh.
It was recently given to the Dunedin City Library by his granddaughter Heather McKay.
For Mr McEwan, a good whisky and a good book made the journey through stories all the more exhilarating, turning reading into an adventure.
He was born in Edinburgh, in 1870, and was chief librarian of the public library in Stirling, before immigrating to New Zealand, where he became Dunedin’s public librarian in May 1908.
He essentially inherited an empty shell of a building to create a public library for the city, and during his 25 years of service he created a facility with thousands of reference books, books to borrow, a children’s library, the McNab collection, the A.H. Reed collection, public lectures, literary events and a series of local history publications.
He was also a founder member of the Libraries Association of New Zealand, and established the School Library Service which supplied books to schools in Dunedin.
The original collection he curated is still part of the library and is situated in the stack.
By the time of his death in 1933, the Dunedin Public Library collection had grown to more than 50,000 volumes.
His connection to the library may be unknown to many today, so his granddaughter Heather McKay recently gave Mr McEwan’s whisky decanter to the library, to keep his connection with the facility alive.
Dunedin City Council library services director Sarah Gallagher said the decanter travelled to New Zealand with him in 1906, when he emigrated from Edinburgh aboard Dover Castle.
"It is a beautiful example of Bohemian ruby-stained, acid-etched glass, possibly dating to around 1870-1880.
"We’re very pleased to accept this gift from the McEwan family, and to welcome this artefact into our collection."
She said it would now become part of the McNab artefacts collection and would be displayed at a future date.
Dunedin City and South Dunedin Libraries manager Lynn Vare said she was delighted the decanter had been left to the library for posterity.
"It’s a very thoughtful gift to connect us back to someone who was really important in the history of this library.
"It’s something that we will really cherish", she said.
