Australian Scholarly Editions Centre Projects (ASEC)

Abstract

Keith Adkins: Books and Reading in Colonial Tasmania: The Evandale Subscription Library, 1847-1861.

Students of book history are confronted with a lack of evidence to support the study of reading habits and practices of past generations. The chance survival of the manuscript collection of the Evandale Subscription Library provides a rare opportunity to analyse the borrowings of a known and largely traceable group of readers (and at a time when Tasmanian society was experiencing the challenge of the cessation of convict transportation and the establishment of representative government).

The Evandale Subscription Library is particularly significant in that it was established within a geographically defined community and heavily patronised - especially in its early years - with the books remaining in situ until the late 1940s when it was finally disbanded. In the course of this enquiry some 300 volumes have been located and accounted for.

This paper will detail the history of the Library and its borrowers and the electronic database that lists the 115 readers, the 1911 volumes, and the 11,671 borrowings from the foundation of the Library in 1847 through to 1861. Elizabeth Webby and Wallace Kirsop have both identified Tasmanian colonial society as in want of further study and have by their writings and example invited the analysis of available data. In many ways this study is in response to that challenge.

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Abstract

John Arnold: An Indigenous Flower: A History of Sun Books, 1965-1980.

Sun Books was founded by Geoffrey Dutton, Max Harris and Brian Stonier shortly after they resigned en masse from running the publishing arm of Penguin Australia because of what they felt was both editorial interference and lack of genuine support from the Penguin head office in Harmondsworth. It was more enthusiasm than capital that kickstarted the business but their diverse talents, publishing experience and literary network, combined with hard work, ensured its success. In addition to their time at Penguin, Dutton and Harris had already worked closely together on Australian Letters and Australian Book Review while Brian Stonier was a literate accountant with considerable business acumen.

Recruiting George Smith from Penguin to manage their production side, and using Brian Sadgrove as their designer, Sun Books issued its first books in late 1965. Over the next fifteen years or so they published an extraordinary range of original works, reprints and buy-ins in the soon to be familiar Sun Book format.

Original Sun Books include Geoffrey Blainey's The Tyranny of Distance, Dutton and Harris' Australia's Censorship Crisis, Roger Covell's Australian Music: themes for a new society, the Dutton edited Australia and the Monarchy, and Ian Turner's wonderful anthology The Australian Dream. In all they published around 180 books before selling the imprint to Macmillan Australia.

This paper will survey the history of Sun Books during its Dutton/Harris/Stonier period, looking at how it functioned, the titles it published, and attempt to assess what the author believes is its considerable importance as an indigenous Australian publisher and both a forerunner and participant in the independent nationalist spirit of the late sixties which led to the election of the Whitlam Labor Government in December 1972.

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Abstract

Bill Bell: Print Culture Under Strange Skies: Scottish Emigrant Readers in the Nineteenth Century.

'Print Culture Under Strange Skies' will be published in A History of the Scottish Book, no further publication details at the moment.

This paper offers a general introduction to the subject of Scottish colonial readers, beginning with the assertion that cultural memory was often, in the nineteenth century, contingent on the continued practices of reading and writing. Arguing for an intimate relationship between reading practices and the experience of the exile, it seeks to demonstrate how Scottish cultural identity was reinforced, and at times challenged, by the circulation of texts under strange skies.Beginning with an examination of the importance of textual production to the growth of emigration in the earlier part of the nineteenth century, the first section ('The Textual Environment') goes on to identify a range of prevailing textual practices from official government and religious propaganda to more informal kinds of shipboard reading and diary and letter writing. The second section ('Transplanted Networks') concerns itself with the emigrant experience after settlement, taking issue with a number of current postcolonial theories on the grounds that such totalising paradigms do little to account for the specificity of settlement experience. The community at Waipu, settled by Nova Scotian Scots in the 1850s, is presented as a case study in order to explore ways in which books were used to retain a singular sense of cultural identity in exile. The paper concludes with a recognition that by the later nineteenth century most Scottish communities in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand were coming to participate in increasingly hybridised and secularised print cultures. The rise of nostalgia for 'home' at this time, evident in the formation of Scottish societies and clubs throughout the various New Worlds, is attributed more to a sense of cultural crisis brought on by this hybridising process than the cultural confidence for which it is so often taken as evidence.

Throughout, a more general case is made for the importance of the development of a geography of communications, concluding with a recognition of the way in which the history of the book is already coming to inform cultural history.

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Abstract

Dennis Bryans: Nineteenth-Century Australian Type Foundries.

The Victorian type foundry (1876-1884) was probably the most ambitious type manufacturing firm in colonial Australia. Henry Thitchener, who brought all the equipment required to set up the business to Melbourne from England, was an engineer who not only cast type but also designed and built his own machines. Thitchener attempted in 1882 to enter the service of the government in Victoria because he was aware that the New South Wales Government Printer, Thomas Richards, had purchased the old Thomson type foundry until recently owned by Archibald Wright.

Unsuccessful in his plan, Thitchener moved to Sydney where he joined forces with John Davies to form the Australian Type Foundry (1884/5-1900). One of Thitchener's type casting machines was built to order for the Victorian Government Printer during the life of the Australian Type Foundry, and from time to time he supplied moulds for the machine in Melbourne.

A complete list of the machines and equipment owned by Thitchener was submitted to the Victorian Government at the time of the projected sale and a report (Webster and Robert Ellis) valued the plant at 3146/1/6. Thitchener also issued a type specimen book in Melbourne containing samples of borders and corners in addition to a range of types. Regrettably, so far no complete example of this specimen book has been found, but there is one surviving book of the type cast by Thitchener and Davies at the Australian Type Foundry, Sydney.

The brands fount cast for the South Australian Government by Thitchener in Melbourne was also cast independently in a different size and to a different pattern by Davies in Sydney and it may be that they became acquainted with one another as a result of this competitive tender.

I will show examples of type specimen sheets made from type cast by Thomson, Davies, Thitchener and Wimble, together with examples of metal types showing pin marks, feet and shoulders of type.

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Abstract

Pat Buckridge: The Reading of 'Great Works' in Australia, 1900-60.

'The Reading of "Great Works"', will be published in the Bulletin of the Bibliographic Society of Australia and New Zealand, no further details at the moment.

Much of the 'serious reading' done by Australians of all classes in (roughly) the first half of this century was by way of multi-volume compilations and collections of Great Works. These extended across a range from illustrated encyclopaedia (primarily for children) through annotated collections of excerpts from the Great Writers, collections of 'World's Greatest' short stories, to uniformly bound de luxe sets of classic novels. Also important were the subscription courses designed for adult self-education, usually with bound sets of readings included, published by the International University Society, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago; and collections of great speeches designed as models for emulation by aspiring after-dinner speakers.

This paper will be something of a work-in-progress report, but I hope to be able to offer both a descriptive survey of the materials and some arguments as to the significance of these various 'polygraphic' forms of access and use for the history of reading in Australia, ca. 1900-1960.

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Abstract

Laurel Clark: The French Connection in 19th Century Australian Publishing: F.F. Baillière and his activities.

The name Baillière is usually associated in Australian publishing with nineteenth-century gazetteers and directories. So useful were they that the State Library of Victoria reproduced them on microfiche in the 1980s. Yet F.F.Baillière's publishing enterprises were far more wide ranging.

Born in England, he was the nephew of the founder of the firm established in France in 1825. The company was active in New York, Paris, Madrid and Melbourne in the latter part of the nineteenth century, as the imprints of F.F.Baillière's publications reveal. Like the Teggs in Australia, they were multinationals before their time. Baillière arrived in Melbourne in 1860 and rapidly acquired government 'patronage'. His early publications claimed that he was Publisher in Ordinary, although the legality of this claim has not been proved.

Like his parent house in France, he established links with the medical profession and his subsequent involvement with the flamboyant Doctor Beaney nearly lead to his downfall. His relationship with Beaney resulted in a court case which was celebrated at the time, being followed by the Melbourne dailies, the Argus and the Age.

Baillière published a number of Beaney's medical works as well as other medical books and also established a medical journal in Melbourne when, surprisingly, there were three other such journals already available. Baillière's publications were not limited to gazetteers, directories and medical works, for in keeping with his ability to acquire government 'patronage', he also published works of several notable Melbourne colonists, including Marcus Clarke.

Baillière also ran a bookshop, about which only a small amount is known; however it is through his publishing that he made a significant and hitherto unknown contribution to the Australian booktrade.

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Abstract

David Dunstan: Words on Wine: the Appearance of a Publishing Subculture.

Wine, winemaking and grape growing would seem to have attracted a greater share of obsessional types than other beverages, manufacturing or agricultural activities. Not surprisingly, this interest is reflected in publishing and in books. Since the earliest times, when the Australian colonies suggested themselves as a new home for the European vine, and for wine production, there has been no shortage of infatuated pundits ready to rush into print on the subject. In the post-1945 era especially this trickle became a torrent. In these years it may be said that Australia became a wine consuming (as well as producing) nation. Words accompanied the wine. It seemed that we could not drink it without also reading about it.

And so it was that wine writers came to assume a special role, not just guides pointing the punters to the best bottles, but framers of a new middle-class consumerist lifestyle and the vinous knowledge that was supposed to go with it. Newspapers, specialist magazines and book publishers all ran with the new enthusiasm. A generation of writers (of varying personaes and talents) from Walter James through to Len Evans, James Halliday and Mark Shield came to public prominence. Although the tide has subsided somewhat, most major papers still boast a wine columnist and wine books remain a lucrative, if minor, dimension of Australian publishing.

This paper proposes, through a case study approach, to explore the careers and involvement of key individuals, to revive memories of some familiar publications, to scrutinise forays into the cellar undertaken by more than a few well-known Australian publishing houses, and to assess the contribution of contributors to the genre.

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Abstract

Victoria Emery: The Culture of Catholicity: Melbourne's Catholic Periodicals, 1986-1900.

The establishment of the first stable Catholic weekly in Melbourne, the Advocate in 1868, was the beginning of a long rhetorical and practical struggle to achieve a Catholic press for Victoria. For almost twenty years this weekly was the sole occupant of the field, then the period 1887 to 1900 saw a sudden and remarkable eruption of Catholic writings into print, with the monthly Australasian Messenger, the quarterly Catholic Magazine (precursor to the monthly Austral Light), The Magazine of the League of the Cross, Madonna and the Tribune following each other into print. These journals defined themselves and their activities in a number of not always harmonious ways. Convinced of the importance of the press both for good and for ill, they fostered the involvement of Catholics in a variety of educational and cultural initiatives, promoting Irish and Catholic values and fostering Catholic writing and publishing. They also displayed a distinctively Catholic spin on the cultural fear of 'promiscuous' reading and anxieties over Catholic exposure to a mainstream press regarded as anti-Catholic.

This paper will explore the rhetorical and practical background to these developments, examining both the definition and functioning of the 'Apostolate of the Press' and the communal and financial underpinnings which allowed the creation of these journals.

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Abstract

Paul Genoni: Writing the Continent: Diaries of Exploration and Representations of a New World.

This paper will consider the explorers' diaries which were published during the nineteenth century, and their unique place in the history of print culture in Australia. It will briefly examine the role played by the explorers' published diaries in representing the Australian interior to both those who were living in the colonies and to an eager European audience. Of the mythical nineteenth-century types who have their roots in rural and outback Australia-the explorer, the shearer, the drover, the miner, the squatter-only the explorers left a detailed account of themselves, the new land, and the various life forms it supported.

A case study will be made of the publishing history of the first major Australian exploration diary, John Oxley's Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales (1821). It will include an account of the reception given to Oxley's diaries in Europe.

The paper will conclude with a brief examination of the continued relevance of, and demand for, modern reprints of the explorers' diaries.

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Abstract

Ross Harvey: A Historical Dictionary of Australian Newspapers.

The initial planning for the History of the Book in Australia project envisaged that the first phase of the project would be a multi-volume chronological history. Further phases would include a historical dictionary of Australian newspapers.

This paper briefly places newspapers in the context of wider Australian book history and emphasises their importance. It indicates that there is still much research to be carried out on the printing, publishing and economic aspects of Australian newspapers, as distinct from journalistic aspects, despite the recently increasing quantity of such research.

The scope and structure of a historical dictionary of Australian newspapers is explored and possible structures for a project to develop it are examined. Potential deliverables, ranging from the traditional book product to a database which is able to be updated via the Web, are noted. Some models for an Australian dictionary, such as the various published annotated bibliographies and directories of newspapers for states of Canada or regions of the U.K. are described. Some sample entries for Western Australian newspapers are presented.

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Abstract

Wallace Kirsop: Publishing in Foreign Languages in 19th Century Australia: The French and German Cases.

Immigration to Australia from German- and French-speaking countries in the nineteenth century was markedly different both in extent and character. The contrast shows up in the sorts of publications produced locally for these groups across the various colonies.

The paper aims to illustrate the distinctive features of what were on the one hand large, coherent and religiously separate communities and on the other smaller and rather amorphous collections of individuals who were none the less more closely integrated into the mainstream culture of Anglo-Celtic Australasia.

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Abstract

Kate Lavender: Lesbian Community Publications, 1980s to Present.

This paper will discuss aspects of the publication of newsletters and magazines emanating from various lesbian communities across Australia between the early 1980s and the present. It will cover the origins of some of these publications, their organisation, and the kinds of topics and issues they contained. The publications were unique in themselves and yet have often been overlooked in reviews and social histories of lesbian lives, which not only suppressed the voices of lesbians and their personal and political concerns but gave a distorted history. In comparison to the silences and invisibility, mainstream and commercial publications have frequently sensationalised or objectified lesbians. The newsletters trace the emergence of lesbians from the private world to the public arena of participation in a multicultural, multifaceted society.

In Australia lesbian groups became more public and accessible from the late 1960s, paralleling the emergence of the 'second wave' feminist movement and gay liberation. Newsletters, either of existing groups or specifically produced as an end in themselves, became part of the lives of many lesbians.

Despite the publicity surrounding the activities of the earlier years of 'second wave' feminism, open lesbians were not always welcome or comfortable in feminist circles. Also there were lesbians whose interest differed substantially from those of gay men. These newsletters, then, were uniquely valued by many lesbians, especially those in rural areas. Even today some lesbians' main contact with others is through lesbian newsletters.

Organisation of these publications involved contacting a diverse and largely hidden population, financial burdens, the influence of prevailing ideologies including working collectively, radical editing policies and the reliance on unpaid work. This type of history is best told by an insider and my claim is as a founding mother and key worker on the national Lesbian Network magazine for over seven years.

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Abstract

Rosemary Montgomery: 'We read what there was': School Library Books and Wartime Reading for the Adolescent Girl in Australia, 1939-1945.

A primary purpose of school reading is the creation of particular roles and values. However, weaknesses in the construction of the library reading situation and shifting social values meant that adolescent girl readers were not necessarily receiving or accepting the images of roles and assignation of values intended by the educational hierocracy.

The stated aims of libraries in secondary and elementary strands of education were similar: to develop an enjoyment of good reading. However, the strands offered different ideas of 'good reading', and different ideas of the purposes of a school library.

Funds were limited. Secondary libraries recognised the importance of public examinations and developed collections emphasising the prescribed authors. Modern respondents who were the readers recalled secondary school collections as 'fusty' and 'unreal'; a response borne out by Second World War surveys of reading.

Elementary libraries had to develop a collection for clients between infants and those who would leave before the junior public examination. Departmental booklists were almost unusable in such circumstances. Respondents recalled 'favourites' from these libraries as 'boarding school books' and 'Anne' books.

Library reading was voluntary but conditions for undertaking it varied according to the educational strand. Secondary schools struggled to maintain a separate library room. However the collections' attachment to the 'classics' and the idea of examination success, and the difficulties of creating and maintaining the collections, reflected in the rules and proscriptions, meant that girls perceived school libraries as places for the elite.

Elementary libraries were seen to have attractive books but their collections were so small enthusiastic readers could not habitually read from them.

An examination of the collections in, and the responses to, school libraries clearly demonstrates that girls were far from being a passive group reading 'what was there'. There was a division between educational hierocracy's expectations of what girls would read and the reading girls themselves were undertaking voluntarily at this time.

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