Demand drives indigenous cultural guide to second print run

When it was launched last May, the Rough Guide to Maori New Zealand was snapped up by British travellers - despite 250,000 copies being produced.

Now, the exercise is being repeated, even though the reprint will be only 10,000 this time round.

They will be destined for distribution in New Zealand, as well as being used as a marketing tool at a major Maori arts exhibition in San Francisco in early August.

Rough Guides’ Auckland-based director of custom publishing, Roger Barnes, says New Zealand booksellers asked why the first edition wasn’t available in this country and the reprint rectifies that.

The 96-page booklet is the first published by Rough Guides on any indigenous culture and was an instant hit with consumers in Britain when it was launched at last year’s Chelsea Flower Show in London.

It covers Maori history - in summary at least - the indigenous culture of Aotearoa New Zealand and its customs, and breaks the country into 12 regions, featuring the top Maori operators in each.

The first of the reprinted edition was presented to representatives of the Ngati Tuwharetoa iwi (tribe) in Taupo in May.

This location was selected because of the significance of the gift of the triple peaks of the central North Island to the people of New Zealand, foreshadowing what is today a world heritage park.

“What I am pleased about is that this book has a life,” Rough Guides’ Roger Barnes says.

“We didn’t want it to be just a oneoff. I’m sure there be third and fourth editions in years to come.”

The Rough Guide to Maori New Zealand will be available in boostores and at i-Sites throughout the country from August.