From Convict Printers to Book Arcades

A History of the Book Volume 1: 1788-1890

By: Wallace Kirsop (Editor), Elizabeth Webby (Editor), Judy Donnelly (Editor)

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Hardcover | 1 February 2025

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European printing technology came in the 1790s to a continent where there were and still are age-old modes of communication developed by Indigenous Australians. The present volume, while recognising this essential prehistory, is devoted to the print civilisation imported by the newcomers.

Throughout the nineteenth century books, magazines and newspapers arrived in great quantities from elsewhere, notably the British Isles. Appropriate means of distribution bookshops and libraries were created in the various colonies, but, as the population grew after the gold rushes, local manufacturing became evermore necessary.

From the efforts of convict and ex-convict printers before 1820 to the achievements of numerous professionals after 1850, one can follow the expansion of production, dissemination and reading. Alongside the Bush, there were urban centres like Melbourne and Sydney, ranking in size with many major European cities by 1890. Thus, it was possible to find in Victoria's capital what was plausibly claimed to be the biggest bookshop in the world: Cole's Book Arcade.

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