AustLit

Author's abstract: 'The colony of Van Diemen's Land, later renamed Tasmania, experienced an early flowering of culture in the 1830s and 1840s, built on the prosperity of the 1820s. An example is the establishment of a number of earliest community-based libraries in colonial Australia. The reasons for this are varied and include the desire to alleviate isolation and to establish educational and recreational institutions and traditions, founded on British models, in a land initially settled as a penal colony. This paper discusses the relationship of two of these institutions, the Evandale Subscription Library and the Launceston Library Society, with the London bookseller, Orger and Meryon. It also discusses the role of Orger and Meryon in helping to build private libraries in the colony, and their publication of the works of colonial authors. The argument it presents is twofold: firstly, the role of Orger and Meryon in shaping reading practices in the colony; secondly, their contribution to the advancement of knowledge and the reinforcement of the concept of Empire.' (9)