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NSW Bookstall Company was a Sydney company which operated a chain of newsagencies throughout New South Wales. It was notable as a publisher of inexpensive paperback books which were written, illustrated, published and printed in Australia, and sold to commuters at bookstalls in railway stations and elsewhere in New South Wales.

History

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The company was founded as the Sydney Bookstall Company by Henry Lloyd (ca.1847 – 24 September 1897) of "Linden Hall", Annandale, New South Wales around 1880 as a newsagent. Its first foray into publishing may have been racebooks (form guides or programmes) for the Hawkesbury Race Club around 1886.[1] Over its lifetime, the NSW Bookstall company published over 350 titles with over 1000 reprints, with total sales of over five million copies.[2][3]

A. C. Rowlandson (15 June 1865 – 15 June 1922) joined as a tram ticket seller in 1883 and built a strong interest in the business, which he bought from Henry Lloyd's widow. The greatest part of the company's business consisted of retailing local, interstate and overseas periodicals, postcards (Neville Cayley produced a series) and stationery from its eight city shops and fifty-odd railway stall outlets, but was important as one of Australia's most successful book publishers and retailers of locally produced paperback books.[4][5][6]

Considerable effort was put into the artwork of the paperbacks, both on their brightly colored covers and the illustrations within. Artists who contributed included J. Muir Auld, Percy Benison, L. H. Booth, Norman Carter, H. W. Cotton, John P. Davis, Ambrose Dyson, Will Dyson, Tom Ferry, A. J. Fischer (often "Fisher"), Harry Garlick, C. H. Hunt, Ben Jordan, Harry Julius, George W. Lambert, Fred Leist, Norman Lindsay, Lionel Lindsay Percy Lindsay, Ruby Lindsay, Vernon Lorimer, David Low, Hugh Maclean, Frank P. Mahony, Claude Marquet, R. H. Moppett, Charles Nuttall, G. C. Pearce, James Postlethwaite, L. L. Roush, James F. Scott, Sydney Ure Smith, D. H. Souter, Percy Spence, Martin Stainforth, Alf Vincent and Harry J. Weston.[3][7]

The University of Sydney Library has 153 of the original artworks used in the NSW Bookstall Company's publications, including cover artworks and illustrations.[7][8] The State Library of New South Wales holds the company records from 1909-1938.[9]

On Rowlandson's death, Reg. Wynn (ca.1866 – 17 December 1925) took over as managing director, and W. A. Crew was circulation manager.[10] The company erected a large building at the corner of Market Street and Castlereagh Street.[3] Reg. Wynn was succeeded by Paul Dowling.

With the onset of World War II, imports of comic books was severely restricted, which opened the market, previously swamped by the U.S. and British houses, to anyone who could provide a quality product, and the NSW Bookstall Company was ideally placed to publish and distribute such work. Tony Rafty, Will Donald, Tom Hubble, Noel Cook and Terry Powis were among the more successful artists, and the partnership of Brodie Mack and writer Peter Amos (real name Archie E. Martin) produced some excellent work for the NSW Bookstall Company.[11] By 1949, the opportunity provided by wartime shortages no longer applied, and Australia was once again flooded with excess overseas production. Between 1957 and early 1958 the Company's assets had been sold.[2]

Titles

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This list of titles of the range of NSW Bookstall titles, which is commonly referred as The Bookstall Series,[12] is representative but not exhaustive.[3]

Sally: The Tale of a Currency Lass[13]
The Sign of the Serpent
The Knight of the Motor Launch
The New Chum & four other stories
  • Malcolm Afford: Owl of Darkness
  • F. Agar: Eros! Eros Wins!
  • Bob Allen: The Mare with the Silver Hoof
  • Gerald R. Baldwin: In Racing Silk
Lydia's Lovers[a]
  • Vera Barker: Equality Road
When Satan Laughs
South Seas Shipmates
Steve Brown's Bunyip
  • A. Bathgate: Sodger Sandy's Bairn[14]
  • Louis Becke: The Adventures of Louis Bleke
Bully Hayes, Buccaneer
Billy Pagan, Mining Engineer[14]
Silver Star
  • George W. Bell: The Little Giants of the East[15]
  • Francis E. Birtles (illus. by author): Lonely Lands
  • H. K. Bloxham: The Double Abduction
On the Fringe of the Never Never
Tools of Satan
The Lady of the Cavern
By His Excellency's Command
By Mountain Tracks
Cards of Fortune
The Fenceless Ranges
Haunts of Fear
On His Majesty's Service[16]
Mr. Barrington
Mystery of the Cliff
The Stony Heights
The Great Turos Mystery
South Sea Sinners
  • Paul Cupid:[b] The Rival Physicians
  • George Darrell: The Belle of the Bush[18]
  • Aiden de Bruno: The Carson Loan Mystery[19]
  • Don Delaney: The Captain of the Gang
For Turon Gold
Gentleman Jack[20]
A Rebel of the Bush
The White Champion
  • Will Donald: Heel Hitler[21]
  • Con Drew: The Doings of Dave
Jinker
Rogues and Ruses
Fact'ry 'Ands
The Grey Goose Comedy Co.
In the Roaring Fifties[22]
Loves of Lancelot
The Missing Link[23]
Spats' Factory
Tommy the Hawker and Snifter his Boy
  • A. R. Falk: Puppets of Chance
Red Star
White Savage Simon[26]
Queen Vaiti
  • Kate Harriott: Invalid and Convalescent Cookery[27]
  • W. G. Henderson: The Bathers
  • Bert James: The Loser Pays
The Mystery of the Boxing Contest[14]
  • A. E. Jobson: The Adventures of Russell Howard
  • Cecil Ross Johnston: The Trader
  • Robert Kaleski: Australian Barkers and Biters[16]
  • A. R. Kent: A Chinese Vengeance
  • Norman Lindsay: A Curate in Bohemia[28]
Norman Lindsay's Book
The Dawsons' Uncle George
Mum Dawson — Boss
Skeeter Farm
Fringe of the Law
The Oil Seekers
Fagaloa's Daughter
Red Mountain[26]
The Savagery of Margaret Nestor
The Skipper of The Roaring Meg
Spear-Eye
Sunlight, Adventure and Love
Talifa
  • A. Ian Macleod: Hack's Brat
  • A. E. Martin: The Romance of Nomenclature, (1943) containing 1,250 Place Names in South Australia, West Australia and the Northern Territory[30]
  • Clarence W. Martin: Ubique[14]
  • Harold Mercer: Amazon Island[31]
  • Edward Meryon: At Hollands' Tank
One False Step
Yellow Silver[25]
  • William Monckton: Three Years with Thunderbolt[22]
  • Jack North: The Black Opal
Harry Dale's Grand National
A Son of the Bush
Creatures of Impulse
The Plantation Manager
The Shantykeeper's Daughter
  • Sydney Partrige: Rocky Section
  • Sydney Partrige and Cecil Raworth: The Mystery of Wall's Hill
  • S. W. Powell: The Closed Lagoon
A Golden Chance
The Great Jude Seal
Hermit Island
The Maker of Pearls
A Mantle of Authority
The Pearls of Cheong Tah
The Trader of Kameko
X-Mixture
The Golden Kangaroo
The Outlaws of Weddin Range
Three Years with Thunderbolt
Wolaroi's Cup
  • Clement Pratt: Caloola
  • "Rata" (Thomas Richard Roydhouse): The Coloured Conquest[32]
  • Broda Reynolds: Dawn Asper[26]
The Heart of the Bush
The Selector Girl
The Fortunes of Geoffrey Mayne
  • Ivan Archer Rosenblum: Marjorie of Blue Lake
Stella Sothern
The Book of Dan
Dad in Politics
The Dashwoods
Duncan McClure
For Life
Grandpa's Selection
Kayton's Selection[34]
Memoirs of Corporal Keeley
On an Australian Farm
On Our Selection
Our New Selection
The Old Homestead
The Poor Parson
Sandy's Selection
From Selection to City
Stocking Our Selection
Mystery of Murrawang
The Rheas of Werriwang
The Squatter's Ward[36]
Budgeree Ballads[37]
The Haunted Shanty
How McDougall Topped the Score, and other Verses and Sketches;[38]
The Spring Cleaning
The Surprising Adventures of Bridget McSweeney
That Droll Lady
Why Doherty Died
Bill's Idées
The Bulletin Book of Humorous Verses and Recitations
The Bulletin Reciter
Gum Blossoms: A Volume of Australian Verse
  • Crystal Stirling: Soldiers Two
  • Ralph Stock: The Pyjama Man
The Recipe for Rubber[39]
Pearl Shell[42]
Tap Tap Island
  • Charles D. Websdale (J. Muir Auld ill.): Seafarers
  • Charles White: Ben Hall
Captain Moonlite
Gardiner, King of the Road
John Vane, Bushranger
The Kelly Gang
Martin Cash
Short-lived Bushrangers[14]
The Boy from Bullarah
The Breed Holds Good
A Close Call
A Colt from the Country
Fettered by Fate
Gambler's Gold
A Game of Chance
A Good Recovery
The Hate of a Hun[43]
In the Last Stride
Keane of Kalgoorlie
A Rogue's Luck
A Rough Passage
The Outlaw's Daughter[44]
Over the Odds
Rung In
A Sport from Hollowlog Flat
The Squatter's Secret
Under a Cloud[18]
When Nuggets Glistened
  • Claude P. Wynn: Princess Naldi's Fetish[45]
  • (none named): Australian Bungalow and Cottage Home Designs[46]
  • (none named): Canberra Cookery Book
  • (none named): Guide to the City of Sydney and the Pleasure Resorts of New South Wales[47]
  • (none named): The Harbour Guide
  • (none named): Panoramic Sydney[48]
  • (none named): Sydney from the Air

Notes

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  1. ^ Ill. Percy Benison
  2. ^ Perhaps A. C. Rowlandson himself

References

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  1. ^ "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 December 1881. p. 1. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ a b Austlit. "N.S.W. Bookstall Company | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d "Australia's Greatest Publishing Business". The Sunday Times. Sydney. 2 November 1924. p. 4. Retrieved 1 October 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Australian-Made Books". The Sunday Times. Sydney. 3 April 1910. p. 3. Retrieved 1 October 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "The Bookstall Series". The Worker. Wagga, NSW. 9 September 1909. p. 21. Retrieved 1 October 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Newstand and vendor, Martin Place, Sydney (c. 1947)". Curio. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  7. ^ a b "NSW Bookstall Company". University of Sydney Library. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  8. ^ "NSW Bookstall Company artwork finding aid". University of Sydney Library catalogue. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  9. ^ "New South Wales Bookstall Company - records, 1909-1938". State Library of New South Wales catalogue. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  10. ^ "OBITUARY. MR. R. W. S. WYNN". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 December 1925. p. 12. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  11. ^ Ryan, John Panel by Panel : an illustrated history of Australian Comics Cassell Australia 1979 ISBN 0-7269-7376-9
  12. ^ The Bookstall Series (N.S.W. Bookstall) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Advertising". The Australian Worker. Sydney. 6 February 1919. p. 6. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h "Advertising". The Catholic Press. Sydney. 22 July 1915. p. 23. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia. An attractive advertisement.
  15. ^ "Colonel Bell's Book on Japan". The Sunday Times. Sydney. 10 September 1905. p. 5. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ^ a b "New Books". The Singleton Argus. NSW. 30 May 1914. p. 4. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "Book Reviews". The Truth. Sydney. 9 August 1936. p. 26. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ a b "Advertising". The Australian Worker. Sydney. 14 December 1916. p. 8. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ "From the Presses". The Newcastle Sun. NSW. 13 June 1927. p. 4. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. ^ "Advertising". The World's News. Sydney. 2 January 1915. p. 26. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia. Illustrated advertisement
  21. ^ "Heel Hitler!". The Australian Worker. Sydney. 22 January 1941. p. 7. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia. Donald was cartoonist for The Australian Worker
  22. ^ a b "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 September 1906. p. 4. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  23. ^ "Review (By "Merrigang")". The Sydney Stock and Station Journal. 6 November 1908. p. 4. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  24. ^ "Untitled". The Barrier Miner. Broken Hill, NSW. 7 October 1918. p. 4. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  25. ^ a b "Advertising". The Farmer & Settler. Sydney. 9 May 1919. p. 4. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  26. ^ a b c "Advertising". The Catholic Press. Sydney. 19 June 1919. p. 23. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  27. ^ "Publications Received". The National Advocate. Bathurst, NSW. 7 October 1912. p. 2. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  28. ^ "A Curate in Bohemia". The Northern Star. Lismore, NSW. 26 October 1933. p. 9. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  29. ^ "Greater Sydney and Greater Newcastle". The World's News. Sydney. 15 September 1906. p. 31. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  30. ^ "The Aboriginal Name for Clare". The Northern Argus. Clare, SA. 19 May 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 10 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  31. ^ "Publications Received". The Muswellbrook Chronicle. NSW. 19 May 1933. p. 6. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  32. ^ "Colour-phobia". Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser. NSW. 7 June 1905. p. 1406. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  33. ^ a b "Advertising". The World's News. Sydney. 29 August 1914. p. 26. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  34. ^ "From the Presses". The Newcastle Sun. NSW. 20 June 1927. p. 4. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  35. ^ "All About Books". The Singleton Argus. NSW. 2 July 1910. p. 6. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  36. ^ "Advertising". The Farmer & Settler. Sydney. 28 March 1919. p. 8. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  37. ^ "The Riberine Herald". Riverine Herald. Echuca, Vic. 10 December 1908. p. 2. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  38. ^ "Recent Publications". The Sydney Wool and Stock Journal. 2 March 1906. p. 14. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  39. ^ "The Recipe for Rubber (Ralph Stock)". The World's News. Sydney. 8 June 1912. p. 29. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  40. ^ "Advertising". The Evening News. Sydney. 14 February 1900. p. 1. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia. One of NSW Bookstall's earliest publications
  41. ^ "Reviews". The Kiama Independent and Shoalhaven Advertiser. NSW. 21 July 1934. p. 3. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  42. ^ "Pearl Shell". Riverina Recorder. Balranald, Moulamein, NSW. 17 November 1934. p. 4. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  43. ^ "A Wright Book". The Sunday Times. Sydney. 26 November 1916. p. 14. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  44. ^ "Bobbies and Bushies — a Bookstaller". The Farmer & Settler. Sydney. 1 July 1919. p. 8. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  45. ^ "A New Bookstall". The Freeman's Journal. Sydney. 15 September 1921. p. 7. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  46. ^ "Advertising". The Sunday Times. Sydney. 9 June 1912. p. 24. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  47. ^ "Reviews in Brief". The Sydney Mail. NSW. 9 November 1938. p. 35. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  48. ^ "Publications Received". The Truth. Sydney. 28 July 1912. p. 5. Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via National Library of Australia.

Further reading

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  • Carol Mills, The New South Wales Bookstall Company as a Publisher, Canberra: Mulini Press, 1991.
  • Carol Mills, An Australian "Dime Novel" Publisher, Clayton, Victoria: Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand, 1992.
  • Carol Mills, "The Bookstall novel: an Australian paperback revolution 1904–1946", in: Australian Cultural History, no. 11, 1992, pp. 87–99. In special issue: Books, Readers, Reading based on a conference at the University of New South Wales, June 1991.
  • Martyn Lyons and John Arnold, eds., A History of the Book in Australia, 1891–1945, Brisbane: Queensland University Press, 2001.
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