NSW Bookstall Company explained

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

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]

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.^{[3] [4] [5]}

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.^{[6] [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.^[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.^[6] 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.

Titles

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.^[6]

• J. H. M. Abbott

Ensign Calder

Sally: The Tale of a Currency Lass^[13]

The Sign of the Serpent

• Arthur H. Adams

Double-Bed Dialogues

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

• Vera Barker: Equality Road

When Satan Laughs

• J. A. Barry

The Luck of the Native Born

South Seas Shipmates

Steve Brown's Bunyip

• A. Bathgate: Sodger Sandy's Bairn
• Louis Becke

The Adventures of Louis Bleke

Bully Hayes, Buccaneer

• Randolph Bedford

Aladdin and the Boss Cockie

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

• Lancelot Booth

The Devil's Nightcap

Tools of Satan

• E. J. Brady

Tom Pagdin, Pirate

• Hilda M. Bridges

The Squatters' Daughter

The Lady of the Cavern

• Roy Bridges

The Barb of an Arrow^[14]

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

• John X. Cameron: The Spell of the Bush
• R. J. Cassidy

Chandler of Corralinga

• Charles Chauvel

Uncivilised^[17]

• E. F. Christie: The Calling Voice
• George Cockerill

The Convict Pugilist

• Dale Collins

Stolen or Strayed

• Arthur Crocker: The Dingo Pup

The Great Turos Mystery

South Sea Sinners

• Paul Cupid: 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

• Edward Dyson

Benno and Some of the Push

Fact'ry 'Ands

The Grey Goose Comedy Co.

In the Roaring Fifties

Loves of Lancelot

The Missing Link^[22]

Spats' Factory

Tommy the Hawker and Snifter his Boy

• A. R. Falk: Puppets of Chance

Red Star

• J. D. Fitzgerald

Children of the Sunlight

• Mabel Forrest

A Bachelor's Wife^[14]

• The Poems of Adam Lindsay Gordon^[23]
• Beatrice Grimshaw

The Coral Queen^[24]

White Savage Simon^[25]

Queen Vaiti

• Kate Harriott: Invalid and Convalescent Cookery^[26]
• 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^[27]

Norman Lindsay's Book

• Sumner Locke

Brownie Unlimited

The Dawsons' Uncle George

Mum Dawson — Boss

Skeeter Farm

• H. R. McDuffie: Rooks and Crooks
• Claude McKay and Harry Julius Theatrical Caricatures
• John D. Fitzgerald: Greater Sydney and Greater Newcastle^[28]
• Jack McLaren

Feathers of Heaven

Fringe of the Law

The Oil Seekers

Fagaloa's Daughter

Red Mountain^[25]

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^[29]
• Clarence W. Martin: Ubique^[14]
• Harold Mercer

Amazon Island^[30]

• Edward Meryon: At Hollands' Tank

One False Step

Yellow Silver^[24]

• William Monckton: Three Years with Thunderbolt^[31]
• Jack North: The Black Opal

Harry Dale's Grand National

A Son of the Bush

• Ernest O'Ferrall

Bolger and the Boarders

• Ernest Osborne: The Copra Trader

Creatures of Impulse

The Plantation Manager

• Harrison Owen

The Mount Marunga Mystery

• Vance Palmer

The Boss of Killara

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

• Ambrose Pratt

Dan Kelly – Outlaw

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^[25]

The Heart of the Bush

The Selector Girl

• Charles Rodda

Cerise and Gold

The Fortunes of Geoffrey Mayne

• Ivan Archer Rosenblum: Marjorie of Blue Lake

Stella Sothern

• Steele Rudd

^[33] Back at Our Selection

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

• W. Sabelburg: The Key of the Mystery
• John Sandes

Love and the Aeroplane^[35]

• Charles E. Sayers

The Jumping Double

• H. M. Somer: Base Brands^[14]
• Edward S. Sorenson

Murty Brown

Mystery of Murrawang

The Rheas of Werriwang

The Squatter's Ward^[36]

• Thomas E. Spencer

^[33] Bindawalla

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

• A. G. Stephens (ed.) Aboriginalities (from The Bulletin)

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]

• R. S. Tait: Scotty Mac, Shearer
• Taylor: Campaign Cartoons^[40]
• Harry Tighe

The Man of Sympathy

• Robert Waldron

The Flying Doctor^[41]

Pearl Shell^[42]

• J. M. Walsh

Goldie Law

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]

• Arthur Wright

The Boss o' Yedden

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

Further reading

• 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.

External links

• The New South Wales Bookstall Company, Sensational Tales: Australian Popular Publishing 1850s–1990s (exhibition), University of Melbourne
• NSW Bookstall Company artworks digitised artworks out of copyright from the collection of the University of Sydney Library

Notes and References

1. News: Advertising. . . 26 December 1881 . 15 March 2015 . 1 . National Library of Australia.
2. Web site: Austlit . N.S.W. Bookstall Company AustLit: Discover Australian Stories . 2024-05-29 . www.austlit.edu.au . en.
3. News: Australian-Made Books . . Sydney . 3 April 1910 . 1 October 2014 . 3 . National Library of Australia.
4. News: The Bookstall Series . . Wagga, NSW . 9 September 1909 . 1 October 2014 . 21 . National Library of Australia.
5. Web site: Newstand and vendor, Martin Place, Sydney (c. 1947) . 2024-05-29 . Curio . en.
6. News: Australia's Greatest Publishing Business . . Sydney . 2 November 1924 . 1 October 2014 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
7. Web site: NSW Bookstall Company . 2024-05-29 . University of Sydney Library . en.
8. Web site: NSW Bookstall Company artwork finding aid . 29 May 2024 . University of Sydney Library catalogue.
9. Web site: New South Wales Bookstall Company - records, 1909-1938 . 30 May 2024 . State Library of New South Wales catalogue.
10. News: 21 December 1925 . OBITUARY. MR. R. W. S. WYNN . live . 30 May 2024 . The Sydney Morning Herald . 12.
11. Ryan, John Panel by Panel : an illustrated history of Australian Comics Cassell Australia 1979
12. https://www.publishinghistory.com/bookstall-series-nsw-bookstall.html The Bookstall Series (N.S.W. Bookstall) - Book Series List
13. News: Advertising. . . Sydney . 6 February 1919 . 15 March 2015 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
14. News: Advertising. . . Sydney . 22 July 1915 . 15 March 2015 . 23 . National Library of Australia. An attractive advertisement.
15. News: Colonel Bell's Book on Japan . . Sydney . 10 September 1905 . 15 March 2015 . 5 . National Library of Australia.
16. News: New Books . . NSW . 30 May 1914 . 15 March 2015 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
17. News: Book Reviews . . Sydney . 9 August 1936 . 15 March 2015 . 26 . National Library of Australia.
18. News: Advertising. . . Sydney . 14 December 1916 . 15 March 2015 . 8 . National Library of Australia.
19. News: From the Presses . . NSW . 13 June 1927 . 15 March 2015 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
20. News: Advertising. . . Sydney . 2 January 1915 . 15 March 2015 . 26 . National Library of Australia. Illustrated advertisement
21. News: Heel Hitler! . . Sydney . 22 January 1941 . 15 March 2015 . 7 . National Library of Australia. Donald was cartoonist for The Australian Worker
22. News: Review (By "Merrigang"). . . 6 November 1908 . 15 March 2015 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
23. News: Untitled . . Broken Hill, NSW . 7 October 1918 . 15 March 2015 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
24. News: Advertising. . . Sydney . 9 May 1919 . 15 March 2015 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
25. News: Advertising. . . Sydney . 19 June 1919 . 15 March 2015 . 23 . National Library of Australia.
26. News: Publications Received. . . Bathurst, NSW . 7 October 1912 . 15 March 2015 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
27. News: A Curate in Bohemia. . . Lismore, NSW . 26 October 1933 . 15 March 2015 . 9 . National Library of Australia.
28. News: Greater Sydney and Greater Newcastle . . Sydney . 15 September 1906 . 15 March 2015 . 31 . National Library of Australia.
29. News: The Aboriginal Name for Clare . . Clare, SA . 19 May 1944 . 10 February 2016 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
30. News: Publications Received . . NSW . 19 May 1933 . 15 March 2015 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
31. News: Advertising. . . 22 September 1906 . 15 March 2015 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
32. News: Colour-phobia . . NSW . 7 June 1905 . 15 March 2015 . 1406 . National Library of Australia.
33. News: Advertising. . . Sydney . 29 August 1914 . 15 March 2015 . 26 . National Library of Australia.
34. News: From the Presses . . NSW . 20 June 1927 . 15 March 2015 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
35. News: All About Books . . NSW . 2 July 1910 . 15 March 2015 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
36. News: Advertising. . . Sydney . 28 March 1919 . 15 March 2015 . 8 . National Library of Australia.
37. News: The Riberine Herald. . . Echuca, Vic. . 10 December 1908 . 15 March 2015 . 2 . National Library of Australia.
38. News: Recent Publications . . 2 March 1906 . 15 March 2015 . 14 . National Library of Australia.
39. News: The Recipe for Rubber (Ralph Stock) . . Sydney . 8 June 1912 . 15 March 2015 . 29 . National Library of Australia.
40. News: Advertising. . The Evening News. Sydney . 14 February 1900 . 15 March 2015 . 1 . National Library of Australia. One of NSW Bookstall's earliest publications
41. News: Reviews . . NSW . 21 July 1934 . 15 March 2015 . 3 . National Library of Australia.
42. News: Pearl Shell . . Balranald, Moulamein, NSW . 17 November 1934 . 15 March 2015 . 4 . National Library of Australia.
43. News: A Wright Book. . . Sydney . 26 November 1916 . 15 March 2015 . 14 . National Library of Australia.
44. News: Bobbies and Bushies — a Bookstaller . . Sydney . 1 July 1919 . 15 March 2015 . 8 . National Library of Australia.
45. News: A New Bookstall. . . Sydney . 15 September 1921 . 15 March 2015 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
46. News: Advertising. . . Sydney . 9 June 1912 . 15 March 2015 . 24 . National Library of Australia.
47. News: Reviews in Brief . . NSW . 9 November 1938 . 15 March 2015 . 35 . National Library of Australia.
48. News: Publications Received . . Sydney . 28 July 1912 . 15 March 2015 . 5 . National Library of Australia.