Mr Ward's Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street

Mr Ward's Map is an epic book about Pōneke's social history told through a series of maps: 88 sheets produced in the late 1800s by a surveyor, Thomas Ward.

Find out more about it in this blogpost where I unpack the design decisions.

Mr Ward's Map is on the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlist!

The judges comments include:

From the dust jacket and typography to the pairing of historic photographs with relevant map excerpts, this book has been artfully designed — bringing navigational clarity to the complexities of the map.

See the full shortlist at the NZ Book Awards website

Other links

View on the Massey University Press website

It was released in November, and was on the Unity Books Wellington top 10 bestsellers list for 2025 (despite only having been out for a month!)

Mr Ward's Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street

November 2025

Mr Ward's Map is on the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlist!

Other links