AustLit

The Hassell Press was founded in Victoria Square in Adelaide in 1885 by George Hassell, a printer who had emigrated from Leicester to Adelaide in 1883, and his son George Frederick. After George senior retired in 1900, George Frederick and his brother Frank ran the Press. From 1904 Hassell were printers for the University of Adelaide, and by 1922, when G. F. Hassell's son Frederick William joined the firm, it had opened a branch in Melbourne. Originally named G. Hassell & Son, the Press used the imprint Hassell Press as early as 1895, and was named The Hassell Press from 1922. The business moved to Franklin Street in 1887, and to 104 Currie Street, Adelaide, in 1910.

The firm developed into a quality printer with high standards of typography and design under the leadership of G. F. Hassell, a bibliophile who was known to personally handset special works. Hassell's interest in the arts is reflected in the publishing output of the press from 1900, which included poetry, art, economics, law and philosophy. In 1922 the firm published Art and Letters: Hassell's Australian Miscellany, and it printed the literary journal Venture (1937) and some works of Henry Lawson, published by George Robertson. The work of the Hassell Press is now sought after by book collectors.