Australian Scholarly Editions Centre Projects (ASEC)

Abstract

Martyn Lyons: The History of Reading and Reading Communities in Australia, c.1820-1940

Each reading experience is unique: the individual reader's response to any given text is unpredictable, even though it might be influenced by editorial strategies or by the socio-historical context. But if the act of reading, that is of giving meaning to texts, is dissolved into a multitude of individual but separate experiences, how is the historian to make sense of them?

This paper will argue that the free exploitation of some ideas of Stanley Fish and Pierre Bourdieu helps to solve this problem. We can conceive of 'interpretative communities of readers', who may or may not share a formal or institutional connection (like the Bulletin); who do share a common view of what constitutes 'the literary field', and who place similar values on certain literary genres. Members of a 'community of readers' may not know each other, but they read for the same purpose, whether devotional, instructional or solely for amusement.

Shared reading practices also express a certain social psychology or habitus. For example, the reading practices of self-taught workers emerge from a common aesthetic of self-denial and earnestness, which was often reinforced by Protestant nonconformity and the temperance movement.

My paper will discuss selected reading experiences with this framework in mind. I will seek to identify some Australian reading communities, whether based on religious affiliation, national origin, gender or professional status. Evidence will be taken from diaries and autobiographical sources of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including oral testimonies.

Abstract

Bruce Scates: 'Knowledge is Power': Radical Literature and the Politics of Reading in Late Nineteenth Century Australia

There are numerous studies of the intellectual origins of fin de siècle radicalism in Australia. All note the popularity of works by Henry George, Edward Bellamy and other such prominent social reformers. This paper will place these authors within what Escarpit has called 'a wider ecology of writers': the poets, scientists, novelists and philosophers who formed the staple of a generation's reading. It will examine the networks (personal, social and institutional) which relayed reading from one individual to another, highlighting the role of the Radical bookshop and the early feminist and labour press in the promotion of a distinctive radical literary culture. And it will shift the study of literature away from the text set down by the author towards the response of the reader, exploring the way that books were shaped and reinterpreted in the light of the reader's values and experiences.

View paper

Abstract

Victoria Emery: The Ladies' Social Reading Club, 1903-1905

The study of reading and readers has become of increasing interest over recent years and this paper concerns itself with reading as a politicised activity. For the literary club at the turn of the century, reading was a matter of social and educational status as well as personal enjoyment.

The Ladies Social Reading Club was formed in 1903 in suburban Sandringham. The first years of the club's minutes are preserved in handwritten exercise books at the Melbourne University archives. It was a small reading group, with a limit of 18 (later 20) members, recruited by invitation only. Its purpose was: to keep in touch with the literature of the day, by reading at home poetry, high class fiction, & standard works, & discussing the books read at the monthly meetings.

(Club Minutes, 1 June 1903)

Over the course of its first two years, readings ranged across poetry and drama, novels, travel, science, memoirs and political writings. Their twice yearly social occasions (variously described as 'lectures', 'lecturettes' or 'at homes') to which guests could be invited, also varied in scope and focus.

The way in which the club formed and defined itself, the selection of texts, their treatment at meetings and the evolution of associated social activities, can all cast light both on the process of reading itself, and on the increasing sophistication with which these ladies defined their reading and themselves. There is a tension in the minutes between the ladies' projection of themselves as educated and cultured persons and their initial difficulty in approaching 'reading' other than as recipients of established wisdom (i.e. 'literature'). While the ladies remained committed to a relatively 'canonical' approach to their 'syllabus', the gradual evolution from a strongly didactic to a much more flexible model, shows an increased confidence in themselves as readers and in the possibilities of their activities.

View paper

Abstract

Jennifer Alison: An Overview of Angus and Robertson as Publishers 1888-1900

PUBLICATIONS

Angus and Robertson began book publishing in 1888 and between then and 1900 they put out about 240 separate titles. True trade publishing began in 1895 with the issuing of The Man from Snowy River. Although the firm is best known for its literary output, many of the titles were schoolbooks or educational textbooks. The remainder were mainly theological, scientific or medical works. Considerable difficulties were encountered in trying to produce the books locally.

MARKETING

A number of marketing strategies were employed including paid advertisements, dissemination of flyers and printed catalogues, letters to the trade and a wide distribution of review and complimentary copies. Much store was set by obtaining many, and if possible favourable, reviews. A different set of strategies was developed for the educational titles. The firm was both vigorous and tenacious in trying to sell its books.

PROFIT AND LOSS

Angus and Robertson displayed a preference for outright purchase of an author's manuscript but many titles were published on some sort of shared profit arrangement with the author. A few authors were paid a royalty; a few titles were published on commission. The Man from Snowy River was a surprise and runaway best seller for the firm and they also did well from their Lawson titles and some of the educational books. Other books were moderate sellers and a few failed completely. Overall, Angus and Robertson's publishing arm contributed a fair profit to the firm's total accounts.

View paper

Abstract

Denis Cryle: 'Culture and Commerce': Gordon and Gotch in Australia 1890-1940

The paper will provide an overview of Gordon and Gotch's Australian operations from the late colonial period to 1940. It argues that this period, rather than the earlier years, saw the establishment of Gordon and Gotch's commercial ascendancy. The paper's focus will be on print culture, predominantly newspapers and magazines, and on historical developments in distribution and advertising. Gordon and Gotch exemplify the historical convergence of cultural industries in pre- and post-Federation Australia. Related issues for consideration include the scale of its Australian and overseas operations, ownership and management changes, and the decline of national competition.

Secondly, the paper will review the role of Gordon and Gotch as a significant publisher in its own right, involving the dissemination of its handbooks, directories and histories. This self-promotional literature provides insights into the growth of advertising agencies and their changing relationship with the newspaper industry. Additionally, it will examine historical discourses about advertising and the evolving construction of readers as consumers. Finally, an assessment of the influence of Gordon and Gotch on cultural consumption and cultural practices will be attempted, drawing on both British and American precedents.

View paper

Abstract

Marcie Muir: The Growth of Australian Children's Book Publishing

This paper will attempt to trace the growth and fluctuations of the publishing in Australia of books for children from its initial burst of activity in the 1890s, through its early successes, to the period of decline between the two wars and its mushroom revival in the 1940s. This is a neglected area well worth investigating. I will discuss the conflict between local and overseas publishing in this field, and issues relating to publishing such as distribution and publicity, as well as the work of some particular authors and illustrators. I will also consider the differing format in which books appeared: hard back, paperback and picture books; though on the whole, confining my study to general books rather than school books. I will not include comics or periodicals apart from a brief mention, nor the children's pages of newspapers.

View paper

Abstract

Bridget Griffen-Foley: The 'Mystery of a Novel Contest' Revisited: The Daily Telegraph and Come in Spinner

There are numerous studies of the intellectual origins of fin de siècle radicalism in Australia. All note the popularity of works by Henry George, Edward Bellamy and other such prominent social reformers. This paper will place these authors within what Escarpit has called 'a wider ecology of writers': the poets, scientists, novelists and philosophers who formed the staple of a generation's reading. It will examine the networks (personal, social and institutional) which relayed reading from one individual to another, highlighting the role of the Radical bookshop and the early feminist and labour press in the promotion of a distinctive radical literary culture. And it will shift the study of literature away from the text set down by the author towards the response of the reader, exploring the way that books were shaped and reinterpreted in the light of the reader's values and experiences.

Abstract

Elaine Zinkhan: A.P. Watt and Company Records: A Major Resource for Australian Publishing History

The records of A.P. Watt and Company - reputedly the first nameable British literary agent to systematically represent writers for a percentage of profits - provide an outstandingly rich resource for the study of Australian publishing history. While A.P. Watt and Company materials are located in several North American manuscript repositories, my paper will examine the highly important collection held by the Wilson Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The official inventory (1994) notes that this archive comprises some 270.5 linear feet. The archive includes correspondence, contracts, private account books, translation ledgers and royalty books; and it documents sales to 'publishing companies, newspapers, magazines, broadcasting corporations, and film studios.' Records date from 1888 and extend to 1985.

Notable non-Australian authors represented in the A.P. Watt and Company Records include (among many others) Arnold Bennett, Walter Besant, G.K. Chesterton, Wilkie Collins, Joseph Conrad, Arthur Conan Doyle, Sarah Grand, Robert Graves, Rider Haggard, Bret Harte, Rudyard Kipling, Philip Larkin, D.H. Lawrence, T. E. Lawrence, W. Somerset Maugham, John Middleton Murry, Margaret Oliphant, Olive Schreiner, Mary Ward, H.G. Wells, P.G. Wodehouse, and W.B. Yeats. Australasian writers include Louis Becke, Guy Boothby, 'Rolf Boldrewood', Ada Cambridge, Ethel Turner Curlewis, Mary Gaunt, Fergus Hume, Katherine Mansfield, 'Nevil Shute', and others.

My paper will provide (a) a brief history of A.P. Watt and Company; (b) a brief 'overview' of Australian files; and (c) a more detailed examination of materials relating to two Australian authors: 'Rolf Boldrewood' and Ada Cambridge. It will note hitherto unknown information regarding (for example) advances and royalties, print-runs, publication in periodicals and newspapers, and translation rights. I will also refer to these authors' own assessment of their association with this firm.

Abstract

Hugh Anderson: Frank Wilmot as Printer and Publisher

Although best known as the creator of poems, stories, plays and to some as an influential reviewer and literary critic in the 1930s and 1890s, Frank Wilmot also made a substantial contribution to standards of book production in Australia. This paper deals with his lifetime of printing and publishing; beginning with his little magazine, Microbe, and his own early books of poems, through the works of Le Gay Brereton, Devanny, Laveter, Tate and Palmer, among others, that he printed and published, to his initiatives as the first Manager of Melbourne University Press in publishing books by Morris Miller and others. Reference will also be made to his (unpublished) lecture on book production.

Abstract

Carol Mills: Bookbinders and Bookbinding of the Late Nineteenth Century

As in other book trades, after a stable environment for several centuries, in the nineteenth century bookbinding practice was subject to the consequences of technological change. The introduction of bookbinding to Australia was largely in this period of change, with both old and new existing here; perhaps more so than in Europe.

In the developing colonies of Australia, it seems that most bookbinding was carried out as part of the business of booksellers, stationers, engravers and printers, a notable example being William Moffitt of Sydney. By the latter part of the nineteenth century, more bookbinders were setting up their own businesses and commercial publishing was beginning to develop. This paper aims to discuss some of the elements of the emergence of independent bookbinders in Australia in the later nineteenth and early twentieth century.

View paper

Abstract

Peter Mansfield: Ballarat Public Libraries

Three libraries were established in Ballarat in the period 1860-1878 and this unusual situation provides an opportunity to study the policies and practice of the committees with particular reference to the development of the book collections.

One important reason for the creation of the libraries in Ballarat was municipal rivalry. The parochial committeemen were skilled political lobbyists, they were able to negotiate with bank managers and had few problems when soliciting donations of books from local residents. This competitiveness was evident in newspaper reports of meetings and each library advertised the arrival of new books in its library. The Ballarat colonial yearbooks and Holgate's assessment in 1884 convinced the committeemen that they had acted wisely.

Social and economic indicators also suggested that the future of the public libraries was assured and external factors such as increasing levels of adult literacy, greater output of books, an increasing number of Australian authors writing about 'the bush' and the unabated demands for British fiction suggested that public libraries would continue to develop well into the twentieth century. However from the 1890s the Ballarat libraries (and most other colonial libraries) were about to enter a period of long decline and the founding committeemen did not know how to react. Economic pressures took their toll but I would argue that three internal factors must be addressed. First, the protracted debate about the relevance of fiction in the public libraries. Second, the role of the librarian and the library committee in the selection of the bookstock. Third, the conservatism of the members of the library committee. The politically astute and radic`al men who were the pioneers of the 1860s were unwilling to replace themselves with a younger generation. As a direct consequence the typical library committee member of the 1890s was extremely conservative and appeared to disapprove of many aspects of contemporary society. This conservatism was particularly evident in the book collections. In the 1860s the committeemen took great pride in the speed with which they acquired recent releases but by 1899 the Catalogue of the Ballarat East Public Library indicates that the library held 35 titles by Miss Braddon and 37 by Trollope but nothing by Lawson or Paterson. This attitude was to have a profound impact on the development of libraries for the next fifty years.

Abstract

Peter Dowling: The Culture of Newspapers in Australia from the 1880s to the 1920s

This paper will explore the changes in Australian newspaper culture during the period when the main revenue base of the print media in Australia moved from subscriptions and sales to advertising. The rise of advertising revenue stemmed from the world-wide twin developments of brand-name advertising and the ever widening distribution of newspapers relative to their being the ideal vehicle for advertising.

There were also two fundamental printing technology developments introduced to Australia circa 1890: the linotype machine for automated type setting and the photomechanical half-tone process for reproducing photographs in print.

These commercial and technological developments will be explored relative to the collapse of the illustrated monthlies in the 1890s, the more gradual decline of the weeklies in the first half of the twentieth century and the emergence of the daily paper as it exists today.

View paper

Abstract

Lesley Heath: Sydney Literary Societies of the 1920s

In cultural and literary histories of Australia, the twenties have been described as a 'period of comparative cultural stagnation [when there] was little encouragement for literary activity of any kind within Australia' (Kiernan 1974); a 'spiritual recession' from the nationalism associated with the Bulletin of the 1890s (A.A. Phillips 1958); and possibly 'the saddest phase of Australian culture' lacking, as it did, a 'centre' with writers giving way to 'an uneasy, over-the-shoulder squinting towards England' (Wallace-Crabbe 1974).

This paper will contest this point of view, arguing that through six literary societies established in the 1920s in Sydney - the Australian English Association, the Society of Women Writers, the Junior Literary Society, the Sydney University Literary Society, the Henry Lawson Literary Society and the Fellowship of Australian Writers - a network of influential middle class cultural nationalists founded an organised front for the promotion of Australian literature.

View paper