A newspaper article was published at the time of the donation of this four-volume set of The Imperial Dictionary of The English Language. The article refers to the Geelong Maritime Society donating the funds to purchase the set of books.
The Geelong Maritime Society Inc. was formed to save the Steam Tug Victor from being scrapped. Its public appeal raised funds for this purpose, but its efforts to stop the tug's destruction were unsuccessful. The Society was disbanded in February 1990 and generously donated the raised funds to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum and Village.
Flagstaff Hill used the funds to purchase the four-volume set of The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language by John Ogilvie. The books are appropriately housed in the library cabinet of the Common School in Flagstaff Hill's village. Each book has a label with an inscription acknowledging the Geelong Maritime Society Inc.'s donation.
STEAM TUG VICTOR:
The steam tug Victor, built in 1951 at Gainsborough, UK, was said to be the most powerful tug in Victoria. It was once used in Geelong. A private party, currently, in 2025, researching the steam tug Victor, discovered the information that connected the vessel to the books in Flagstaff Hill's library.
This set of reference books was published in 1882. The volumes are typical of books used for education in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The publisher used both print and illustrations for explanations.
The Imperial Dictionary of The English Language: a complete encyclopedic lexicon, literary, scientific and technological, Volume 1
by John Ogilvie, LL.D., Author of "The Comprehensive English Dictionary," "The Student's English Dictionary," &c. &c.
New edition, carefully revised and greatly augmented.
Edited by Charles Annandale, M.A.
Illustrated by above [by Charles Annandale, M.A.]. Three thousand engravings printed in the text.
Vol. IV. SCREAM-ZYTHUM. With supplement and appendix.
Publisher: Blackie & Son, 49 AND 50 Old Bailey, E.C. London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dublin
Printer: W. G. Blackie and Co., Villafield, Glasgow. UK.
Volumes Dated: 1882 and 1883
Publisher's logo on the Fly page.
Large book, brown covered board, gold embossed details on spine, and front cover impressed with a decorative diamond logo of Blackie and Sons and its motto, within a rectangle.
A label inside the front cover acknowledges the donor, Geelong Maritime Society Inc.
Inside this first volume was a newspaper clipping, undated.
Logo and motto: "(Shield Infront of a ribbon) with entwined letters "B & S" [Blackie & Son] and "Lucem Libris Disseminamus" [Laten: We disseminate light through books]
Label: "Donated by Geelong Maritime Society Inc which was disbanded in February 1990" with blue rope border, and logos of a sailing ship and an anchor.
Titles of newspaper clippings:
"Queer Beasts of the Bush: The Legend of the Bunyip, by J. C. Le Souef"
"Nature's Puzzle World: How Lillies Close Their Petals"
"In the Forties: A Pastoral Pioneer" [about Charles M. Gray]
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