1904 auction purchase of the letters by Reginald Smith, head of publishing firm Smith Elder and Co. The epic Ranolf and Amohia, a South Sea Day Dream (1872, new edition 1877), includes details of both European and Māori life, and is by far the best known of his works. Flotsam and Jetsam (1877) is dedicated to Browning. He continued to write poetry all his life, in the style of rhyming panegyrics such as An Invitation, with its allusions to the sub-tropical flora and threatened inhabitants of countries such as New Zealand: And if weary of mists you will roam undisdaining To a land where the fanciful fountains are raining Swift brilliants of boiling and beautiful spray In the violet splendour of skies that illume Such a wealth of green ferns and rare crimson tree-bloom; Where a people primeval is vanishing fast, With its faiths and its fables and ways of the past: O with reason and fancy unfettered and fearless, Come plunge with us deep into regions of Day—Come away—and away! – Decadent poet Ernest Dowson was his great-nephew. General Assembly Library While Ranolf and Amohia has been the object of both critical scrutiny (chiefly for its prolixity), and post-colonialist analysis (of its 19th-century colonialist values), Domett's legacy in the literary history of New Zealand was the founding of a library of exceptional scope. Domett's involvement in the founding of the General Assembly Library cannot be overestimated. William Gisborne, who later (1881) favoured widening access to non-parliamentarians, described him as the 'father' of the library. The Encyclopedia of New Zealand emphasises his importance in establishing one of the finest libraries of its time, "both in the selection of the collection and in its organisation and classification", laying foundations "for the successful development of that institution." Domett is, therefore, a founder not only of the General Assembly Library, but, also of the National Library of New Zealand. In 2008, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Margaret Wilson cited the role of the General Assembly Library "in the creation" of that 1965-established institution. New Zealand politics After immigrating to New Zealand, Domett filled several important administrative posts, Colonial Secretary for New Munster Province in 1848, and secretary for the colony in 1851. During his tenure, he urged "a legislative check to large, speculative land holdings". In February 1854, Domett took up the position of Commissioner of Crown lands and resident