AustLit

Published by Angus and Robertson in during the First World War, these small-format editions (14.5cm X 11.5cm.) were designed to fit the tunic pockets of the Anzacs. Each volume was published with a full colour dustjacket, frontispiece and title page vignette. 'Into their presentation was poured much love and care and, despite the necessary wartime frugality which generally restricted the use of all but monotone printing, the work of three outstanding illustrators was commissioned to be reproduced in full colour. Most of those illustrated editions left the country never to return and so copies are ... rare... It is interesting to speculate the effect these illustrations may have had on the troops - Norman Lindsay's dusty droving and homestead scenes, Lionel Lindsay's magnificent wild brumbies and his grandfatherly Saltbush surrounded by "little rouseabouts", Hal Gye's soldiers from an earlier conflict, ramrod straight on sentry duty or in the saddle' (Publishers note, Collected Verse of A. B. Paterson,1982, p.vii-viii).

In 2018, HarperCollins republished the series (under the imprint Angus and Robertson) to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.

The Australian Classics Library series is intended 'to make classic texts of Australian literature more widely available for the secondary school and undergraduate university classroom, and to the general reader. The series is co-edited by Emeritus Professor Bruce Bennett of the University of New South Wales and Professor Robert Dixon, Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, in conjunction with SETIS, Sydney University Press, AustLit and the Copyright Agency Limited. Each text is accompanied by a fresh scholarly introduction and a basic editorial apparatus drawn from the resources of AustLit.'

Source: Sydney University Press website, http://www.sup.usyd.edu.au/
Sighted: 11/08/2009