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Despite attempting in later life to write a definitive popular account of his travels in
German based on his own notebooks, it was never completed for publication. 27 Instead we have
Andreas Reischek junior to thank for completing the book his father began, albeit a biography of
Reischek senior’s exploits in New Zealand based on original material, whilst stylistically edited
and romanticised with the spirit of the early twentieth century under the title Sterbende Welt:
Zwölf Jahre Forscherleben aus Neuseeland (1924). After several failed attempts at selling his
father’s private collection of manuscripts and notebooks in order to alleviate his family’s financial
difficulties during the period of inflation following the First World War, Reischek junior decided
to write the ‘reconstructed’ diary of his father to achieve not only financial reward, but also to
give recognition to the ‘forgotten man of Austria’. 28 The issue, however, is complicated by the
different versions of this account, none of which were written in their entirety by Reischek senior,
but edited together and ‘reconstructed’ by his son from his father’s private collection of various
manuscripts and notebooks some twenty-two years, in the case of the 1924 edition, after his
death. Due to the success of the work, whereby the first printing sold out within three months, and
in order to commemorate twenty-five years since Reischek senior’s death, an abridged version of
about half the length of the original appeared in 1927 under the shortened title of Sterbende
Welt, 29 followed by the English edition, Yesterdays in Maoriland, in 1930, which was translated
by Herbert Ernest Lewis Priday. 30 Two further versions of varying length appeared in 1948 and
1955, also courtesy of Reischek junior, entitled Ihaka Reiheke. Der Maorihäuptling aus
Österreich and the somewhat fictionalised Weißer Häuptling der Maori, the latter of which was
aimed specifically at the popular German-speaking youth market. 31 The original primary source
appears to be eighteen rough notebooks written predominantly in German, together with
unpublished manuscripts and drafts, excerpts from newspapers, published articles and various
correspondence in both English and German. 32
27
See King, Collector, 141, 144, 147f.
28
Ibid., 153-55.
29
Andreas Reischek, Sterbende Welt. Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1927 [=SW (1927); 1924 Ed. = SW].
30
Andreas Reischek, Yesterdays in Maoriland: New Zealand in the ’Eighties. Translated and edited by H. E. L.
Priday. 3 rd Ed. London: Cape, 1952 [=YIM].
31
Andreas Reischek, Ihaka Reiheke. Der Maorihäuptling aus Österreich: Tagebuch einer zwölfjährigen
Forschungsreise auf Neuseeland. Wien: Noreia, 1948; Andreas Reischek, Jr., Weißer Häuptling der Maori: Das
Leben des Neuseelandforschers Andreas Reischek. Erzählt von seinem Sohn. Wien: Büchergilde Gutenberg, 1955.
32
Kolig maintains Sterbende Welt could not have been translated from English as his son implies (SW, 5), since the
diaries are predominantly written in German (Kolig, Umstrittene Würde, 68). However, it seems incredulous that
Reischek junior would make such a statement without any justification, especially as the initial draft of Caesar: The
Wonderful Dog cannot be the primary source in question (ibid., 75, n32). According to the Auckland press, Reischek
did intend to compile a work in English after his return to Vienna: “It is Mr. Reischek’s intention to return to Europe,
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