Pulpit Radical: The Story of New Zealand Social Campaigner Rutherford Waddell

Pulpit Radical tells the story of one of New Zealand's most influential social campaigners. From his base as a minister at the St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Dunedin, Rutherford Waddell immersed himself in all manner of causes, notably in campaigning against the miserable plight of women in the clothing industry, which led to major changes to industrial legislation.

170mm x 240mm portrait format, 296 pages including 40 colour and 60 black and white illustrations, endnotes and bibliography.

Shortlisted for the 2019 Bert Roth Award for Labour History.

Available from bookshops and from the publisher, Saddle Hill Press, PO Box 90, Dunedin 9054, saddlehillpress@xtra.co.nz, $49 post free to your door.

‘Pulpit Radical may well be “the definitive biography”. Ian Dougherty is to be congratulated on so closely attaining that near impossible goal.’ -Jim Sullivan, Otago Daily Times, 11 August 2018

A Good Joke: The Life and Crimes of Notorious New Zealand Art Forger Karl Sim

A Good Joke tells the story of New Zealand's only convicted art forger, Karl Fedor Sim (aka Carl Fedor Goldie) and his associates, and provides an insight into the shady side of art dealing and the incompetent side of art expertise in New Zealand over the past fifty years.

170mm x 240mm portrait format, 228 pages including more than 200 colour and black and white illustrations.

Available from bookshops and from the publisher, Saddle Hill Press, PO Box 90, Dunedin 9054, saddlehillpress@xtra.co.nz, $45 post free to your door.

'A Good Joke is a detailed and well-paced word portrait of an individual who never quite acknowledged the wrongness of his actions.' -Christopher Moore, NZ Listener, 12-18 October 2019

Southern Spirit: The People and Places of Southland

Southern Spirit is a celebration of southern landscapes, from the fantastic fiords in the west and across the green plains to a fossil forest in the east. It introduces readers to unique flora and fauna, from one of the world's rarest plants to some of its rarest birds. It serves up a platter of mouth-watering delicacies, from oysters to cheese rolls. It acquaints readers with old and new settlers, authors and artists, brewers and distillers, champion shearers and sawyers, and machines and the people who collect them. Finally, it lays out the region as an emormous playground relished by locals and visitors alike.

210mm x 280mm, portrait format, 84 pages including 150 colour photographs

Available from bookshops and from the publisher, Saddle Hill Press, PO Box 90, Dunedin 9054, saddlehillpress@xtra.co.nz, $30 post free to your door.

'Southern Spirit is not a travel brochure. It is far too well-written and free from blurb writers' cliches to descend to that level. Southern Spirit gives praise without preaching and is heartfelt without hyperbole. In fact, Southern Spirit may make you wish you were a Southlander, for what more could such a book hope?'  -Jim Sullivan, Otago Daily Times, 11 July 2020

Shooting Folly as it Flies: The Life and Lines of New Zealand's First Political Cartoonist James Brown

Shooting Folly as it Flies is the first biography of New Zealand's first political cartoonist, the Dunedin engraver and artist, James Brown, and reproduces all of his surviving cartoons, many of which have not previously been published. They constitute what the book describes as 'a rare visual record of and a remarkable and enduring commentary on the factional and fickle world of settler politics in Dunedin and Otago in the 1850s and 1860s, which would have been duplicated in settlements throughout New Zealand.'

170mm x 240mm, portrait format, 84 pages, including 103 colour and black and white illustrations

Available from bookshops and from the publisher, Saddle Hill Press, PO Box 90, Dunedin 9054, saddlehillpress@xtra.co.nz, $35 post free to your door.

'This is a lavishly illustrated account of the life and works of James Brown. Some of the cartoons and caricatures have appeared in print before, but never (as here) all of the 56 known survivors, nor reproduced in such clarity.' -Austin Gee, Otago Settlers News, Spring 2022.

The Steepest Street in the World: Baldwin Street, Dunedin, New Zealand

The Steepest Street in the World: Baldwin Street, Dunedin, New Zealand is a substantially revised and enlarged edition of Ian Dougherty's 2006 book. It includes Baldwin Street's history dating back to the 1870s; rival claims to its world's steepest street title (most recently from a street in Wales); its role as an important Dunedin tourist attraction, and the various modes of transport that have been used to ascend the street: from pogo sticks to spring-loaded power skippers. The downside of the street's fame is also traversed: from the intrusive effect on residents' lives; to the serious injuries in motor vehicle mishaps, and the death of a student who rode down the street inside a wheelie bin that crashed into a parked trailer near the bottom.

210mm x 300mm, portrait format, 32 pages including 60 photograhs.

Available from bookshops and from the publisher, Saddle Hill Press, PO Box 90, Dunedin 9054, saddlehillpress@xtra.co.nz, $20 post free to your door.

'The illustrations, many in full-page glory, complement a well-told tale, one that should be read by Dunedinites and not simply left to the tourists who include the book among their souvenirs.' -Jim Sullivan, Otago Daily Times, 6 April 2024