Colonial Reading Experience and Literary Exposure - Books Arrive in the Colony

Colonial Reading Experience and Literary Exposure
Or, 'The Empire' and The Empire

(Status : Public)

Coordinated by AustLit UQ Team

Among the material covered in The Empire is the arrival of English books and magazines in the colony. In this tab, explore some of the material from The Empire on the reporting of new reading materials.
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Magazines per Panama Steamer

This advertisement offered for sale the Quarterly Review, the Athanaeum, the Saturday Review, the World of Fashion, the Family Herald, Blackwood's Magazine, and Cornhill Magazine.

Image by permission of the National Library of Australia.

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Magazines per Panama Steamer 1868 single work advertisement

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New Publications, ex Steamer Avoca

This advertisement is for books rather than periodicals, including J. H. Stirling's Jerrold, Tennyson, and Macaulay, with Other Critical Essays (1868) and J. C. Shairp's Studies in Poetry and Philosophy (1868).
These were also offered for sale by W.R. Piddington.

Image by permission of the National Library of Australia.

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New Publications, ex Steamer Avoca 1868 single work advertisement

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W.R. Piddington

The bookseller behind these advertisements was W.R. Piddington. Piddington's heyday as a publisher was in the 1850s, but he continued as a bookseller into the 1860s, before closing up shop around 1872.

W. R. Piddington

The record for W.R. Piddington, the organisation.

William Richman Piddington

The record for William Richman Piddington, the man.

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New Books and Editions, ex Ben Lomond, Just Landed

This parcel of newly arrived books included works on religion, science, agriculture, and history, as well as periodicals.

Image by permission of the National Library of Australia. (Extract only from advertisement.)

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New Books and Editions, ex Ben Lomond, Just Landed 1868 single work advertisement

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New Books, Ex Steamer Bombay

The Bombay arrived bearing books, including Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer's Historical Characters, in January 1868. In April, she dropped off another supply of books, including Charles Darwin's Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication and Debrett's Peerage (1868).

Image by permission of the National Library of Australia.

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New Publications, Ex Steamer : Bombay 1868 single work advertisement

Image by permission of the National Library of Australia.

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New Books, ex Steamer Bombay 1868 single work advertisement

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Working Men's Book Society

Working Men's Book Society

The Working Men's Book Society was founded by colonial politician and judge Edward Wise.

Image by permission of the National Library of Australia.

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Working Men's Book Society : A Large Assortment of Publications 1868 single work advertisement

This advertisement from December reports the arrival of a large assortment of books from England, now on sale.

Image by permission of the National Library of Australia.

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Working Men's Book Society 1868 single work advertisement

This advertisement notifies people of the arrival of books from England.

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Royal Donation of Books

Queen Victoria donates signed copies of The Early Years of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort and Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands to Australian libraries.

Royal Donation of Books 1868 single work column

The Early Years of his Royal Highness the Prince Consort Charles Grey , 1867 single work biography

Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands from 1848 to 1861 : To Which Are Prefixed and Added Extracts from the Same Journal Giving an Account of Earlier Visits to Scotland and Tours in England and Ireland, and Yachting Excursions Victoria Queen of Great Britain , 1868 single work prose

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Book Sales

The Empire also made note of forthcoming sales of books.

Image by permission of the National Library of Australia.

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Unreserved Sale of Books 1868 single work advertisement

An advertisement for the public auction of the library of the Rev. S. Bromley.

Bradley, Newton and Lamb

This record for Bradley, Newton, and Lamb includes multiple advertisements for auctions of libraries and mass sales of books.