AustLit

The firm Clarson, Shallard and Co. was formed in Melbourne in 1859 by a partnership of Joseph Gibbs, William Clarson, Joseph Shallard and Alfred Henry Massina. Gibbs and Massina had trained as printers, and the main business of the firm, which was located at 85 Bourke Street East, Melbourne, was printing, although it occasionally published literary work at the expense of the author. The partners saw an opportunity to expand into New South Wales, and Gibbs moved to Sydney in 1862 and opened a branch of the business in Pitt Street. The Melbourne business moved to 72 Little Collins Street in 1864. Around 1866 the Melbourne and Sydney branches of the firm separated, becoming Clarson, Massina and Co., and Gibbs, Shallard and Co., respectively.

In literary terms, the company is best known as the first publisher of the Australian Journal, which was issued in Melbourne initially as a weekly, from September 1865. Contributors to the journal during the period it was published by Clarson, Shallard and Co. included 'Waif Wander', James Skipp Borlase, Friedrich Gerstaecker, and Donald Cameron.