The John Robert Godley Memorial Trust has donated a Godley Gifts bookset to the National Library in Wellington. The set contains a facsimile edition of Seadrift, New Zealand's earliest known illustrated children's book written and illustrated in 1858 by James Edward FitzGerald for John and Charlotte Godley's son, Arthur.

FitzGerald was the founder of The Press, a writer, architect, musician, orator and polititcian.

Accompanying the limited edition facsimile is a collection of essays on the book and its author by David McPhail. The third volume in the set is a collection of early watercolours of the Canterbury region by FitzGerald, most of which have never previously been published or exhibited.

The Godley Gifts set was presented to the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, during a recent function in Wellington.