Item HT 49046 Book - 'A Progressive Italian Grammar', 1970

Summary

Red, hard covered book titled 'A Progressive Italian Grammar' written and published by Ferruccio Komadina and Giuseppe Orifici at the University of Western Australia in 1970. Used by Elizabeth Euphemia Saunders as a learning aid to learn Italian.

Part of a collection of objects, documents and photographs from the Saunders family home in Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne. Elizabeth Jane Taylor Saunders (nee Elliott) (1894-1971) and James (Jimmy) Farr Saunders (1888-1974) bought the house in 1928, financed by the State Savings Bank of Victoria. James was a stevedore, working on the Melbourne docks, notably Station Pier, and was actively involved in the Port Phillip Stevedores Association and later the Waterside Workers' Federation. Elizabeth Jane was a skilled seamstress, making clothing for her family, mending, creating soft furnishings such as cushions and blankets, and doing decorative needlework. They had five children, of whom four survived to adulthood. After Elizabeth and James passed away their daughter Elizabeth Euphemia, a dental nurse and later language teacher, became the sole occupant of the house, carefully preserving its contents as decades passed. Her niece proposed the donation of the household contents to Museum Victoria, a rare and significant record of 20th century family life in Melbourne.

Physical Description

Rectangular, red, hard covered book, wrapped in patterned green and blue thin paper featuring brand logo (Buckley's), secured with tape. Inside 285 pages of book feature extensive black printed text in Italian and English as well as sporadic handwritten text in grey pencil and contain 19 printed black and white photographs. Inside front and back covers feature illustrated maps of Italy. The half title page features handwritten text in blue ink. Slipped into the half title page is a single half sheet of paper, torn and folded on the upper edge. This paper features handwritten text in blue ink on the front, and red ink and grey pencil on the reverse. Paper wrapping is torn at corners.