author
W. (Wilhelm) Dittmer
1866–1909
Best known for bringing Māori legends to a wider readership in the early 1900s, this German-born writer and artist created a book that mixed storytelling with his own vivid illustrations. His work offers a glimpse of how New Zealand traditions were being presented to English-language readers at the time.
1 Audiobook
Te Tohunga: The ancient legends and traditions of the Maoris
by W. (Wilhelm) Dittmer
About the author
Born in Hamburg in 1866, Wilhelm Dittmer was a German-born artist and writer who later became associated with New Zealand. Museum and library records identify him as the creator of Te Tohunga, a 1907 book of Māori legends and traditions, and note that he died in 1909.
His best-known work, Te Tohunga: The Ancient Legends and Traditions of the Maoris, was published in London and presented traditional stories for an English-speaking audience. Surviving records also suggest that he illustrated the material himself, which helps explain why his name appears in both literary and art collections.
Because reliable biographical details are limited in the sources I could confirm, much of his life remains hard to trace. Even so, his surviving work has kept his name in circulation as a small but distinctive figure connected with early published retellings of Māori tradition.