John Bell Condliffe

John Bell Condliffe

John Bell Condliffe (1891-1981) was a former student of Canterbury College who donated two thousand volumes relating to economics and other related subjects to the University of Canterbury Library following his death in 1981. Condliffe studied at Canterbury College under Professor James Hight before joining the First World War and serving in France, he then returned to Christchurch and was Professor of Economics from 1920-1927.

He wrote several books on New Zealand, the most important being New Zealand in the Making (1930), The Welfare State in New Zealand (1960), and te Rangi Hiroa: The Life of Sir Peter Buck (1972). In 1939 he was awarded the Howland Prize by Yale University, and in 1960 the American Political Science Association awarded him the Wendell L. Wilkie Prize for The Commerce of Nations. Condliffe returned to Christchurch in 1973 to participate in the centennial celebrations. As an Erskine Visiting Fellow he delivered four lectures at the University of Canterbury which were to be subsequently published under the title Defunct Economists (1974). Source: https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/business/about-uc-business-school/condliffe/

The books that Condliffe donated include a 1776 first edition of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, a 1777 second edition of Captain Cook’s A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Around the World, a first edition of Raphael Holinshed’s The Description of Britaine published in 1577 and a 16th century Italian book on China by Spanish Bishop, Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza.

The general history of China...

Condliffe inscription

Condliffe / Principles of political economy