The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : industrial, descriptive, historical, biographical facts, figures, illustrations.

The Cyclopedia was a landmark printing venture undertaken by the Wellington-based firm of McKee and Gamble at the turn of the twentieth-century. Using the latest printing technology, in particular the new half-tone processes for the reproduction of photographic images, they captured the flavour of a country which had survived the depression of the 1880s and was moving forward into a new millennium. The Cyclopedia includes a collection of biographical portraits, a town and country gazetteer, and surveys of local trades and businesses such as this description of Wellington's early newspaper industry. However, since many of the entries were paid for by the business or individual concerned, copy is flavoured, at times, with all the hyperbole of advertising.