Jason D. Ensor - Angus Robertson and the British Trade in Australian Books, 1930-1970

Angus & Robertson
and the British Trade in Australian Books,
19301970

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Editorial Board
Alison Bashford University of Sydney, Australia
Jill Bennett University of New South Wales, Australia
Nicholas Birns Eugene Lang College of the New School, USA
Francis Bonner University of Queensland, Australia
David Carter University of Queensland, Australia
Barbara Creed University of Melbourne, Australia
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Andrew L. McCann Dartmouth College, USA
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Philip Mead University of Western Australia, Australia
Meaghan Morris University of Sydney, Australia
Stephen Muecke University of New South Wales, Australia
Deb Verhoeven Deakin University, Australia
Gillian Whitlock University of Queensland, Australia

Angus & Robertson
and the British Trade in Australian Books,
19301970

The Getting of Bookselling Wisdom

JASON D. ENSOR

Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com

This edition first published in UK and USA 2013
by ANTHEM PRESS
7576 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA, UK
or PO Box 9779, London SW19 7ZG, UK
and
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First published in hardback by Anthem Press in 2012

Copyright Jason D. Ensor 2013

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Cover image Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW SPF/1164

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above,
no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means
(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise),
without the prior written permission of both the copyright
owner and the above publisher of this book.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Ensor, Jason D.
Angus & Robertson and the British trade in Australian books,
19301970: the getting of bookselling wisdom / Jason D. Ensor.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-85728-566-9
1. Angus & Robertson PublishersHistory. 2. Publishers and
publishingAustraliaHistory20th century. 3. Booksellers and
booksellingAustraliaHistory20th century. 4. Australian
literaturePublishingGreat BritainHistory20th century. 5.
Publishers and publishingGreat BritainHistory20th century. 6.
Booksellers and booksellingGreat BritainHistory20th century. 7.
Book industries and tradeAustraliaHistory20th century. 8. Book
industries and tradeGreat BritainHistory20th century. 9.
AustraliaForeign economic relationsGreat Britain. 10. Great
BritainForeign economic relationsAustralia. I. Title.
Z533.3.A54E57 2013
070.509940904dc23
2012033446

ISBN-13: 978 1 78308 058 8 (Pbk)
ISBN-10: 1 78308 058 2 (Pbk)

This title is also available as an ebook.

CONTENTS

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Angus & Robertson, Sydney

Aubrey Cousins
Walter Cousins
George Ferguson
Paul Tracy

Angus & Robertson, London

Alec Bolton
Walter Butcher
John Ferguson
Hector MacQuarrie
Bernard Robinson
Barry Rowland
Cliff Rust
Douglas Stewart
Sam Ure Smith
Vera Wellings
Mrs Woods

Australasian Publishing Company, Sydney

Stanley Bartlett

British Publishers

John Brown (British Publishers Association)
Dwye Evans (Heinemann)
Walter Harrap (George G. Harrap & Co.)
Frank Sanders (British Publishers Association)
Stanley Unwin (George Allen & Unwin)

PREFACE

Although this book is not the first study to interrogate the extensive Mitchell Library holdings of the Angus & Robertson archives with regards to the companys business operations,

This information on the firm is concise and contributes important material for the history of exporting Australian books, but it does not afford a complete narrative and analysis of Angus & Robertsons London office. To date, much of the research and data on Australian publishing has focused on single publishing houses operating within national borders, the personality of leading publishing CEOs, or famous writers interactions with well-known publishers. There is a significant knowledge gap, however, in the analysis of Australian publishers responding to external conditions and their international transactions. An objective of this book therefore is to fill this gap in the record: it seeks to complement existing studies on Angus & Robertson, Australian literature and other Australian publishers and to provide new insights into the historical links between the international trade in books and local transformations in the Australian publishing industry.

For its interpretative history, the research in this book draws on the documentary evidence held in volumes 1834 of Angus & Robertson London, volumes 44049 of Hector MacQuarrie and volumes 6458 of Barry Rowland from the Mitchell Librarys second Angus & Robertson collection, MSS 3269 ML. Together these represent nearly ten thousand documents on the subject. This restricted collection of memos, author and publisher correspondence, contracts and financial statements is supplemented by an another 4,000 documents from the archives of Angus & Robertsons subsidiary printer Halstead Press, the Publishers Associations in Britain and Australia, and a selection of English publishers, including George G. Harrap and William Heinemann. Permission to access and digitise these documents was given by then current copyright owners of the material, HarperCollins, on 4 June 2008.