Recently in Hobart, the scrapbook album of Robin Hood Lloyd (1828-1916) appeared. As AAADA member Warwick Oakman writes, Hood was a lithographer and framer of Elizabeth Street in Hobart.
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‘One of the biggest novelties we have ever seen…We venture to predict that it will not only be the biggest novelty in the market this year, but it is at the same time so thoroughly practical and such a splendid conception that we marvel that it has not been done before.’ The Publishers’ Circular, 1902
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The children’s magazine market has been one of the most strongly affected by downward sales since the economy began its decline in 2009. But if you read on, you may well come to the conclusion that in this genre at least, the more things change, the more they stay the same…
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When a second printing of the first paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone sold for US$1500 in May 2025, it didn’t just create a buzz. It created quite a few red faces, too. Many eminent and experienced book dealers gave opinions on social media about the book’s value, with most dismissing it as a ‘reading copy’ worth $20 or less. Many also suggested it was easy to find in thrift shops. On both counts, they were proved wrong.
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It wasn’t so long ago that the only time you saw a scrapbook was in a movie where the serial killer had kept all the newspaper cuttings of his gruesome exploits. It was a pretty unexpected end to a hugely popular art that swept the Victorian era and left us not only with some glorious examples of the scrapbook, but also gave a window into the private world of the maker.
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In the thousands of movable and pop-up books published for children from the late 18th century onwards, there have been only four Australian books in this genre – and one of those was a pirated version…
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For a country with a relatively young publishing industry, Australia has a beguilingly rich history of comic art – celebrated with an exhibition at the National Library of Australia in Canberra.
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The pinnacle of fine illustrations in children’s story books was undoubtedly at the beginning of the 20th century – just over 100 years ago, which is rather young compared with other antique print subjects.
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Over the course of the last decade or so, rare and treasured books are becoming difficult to find impulsively as the second-hand and collectable book market has been undergoing rapid changes.
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Vintage (and older) cookbooks offer a fascinating glimpse into the culinary traditions of their countries as well as providing a unique historical perspective on how people cooked, ate and entertained in earlier eras.
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This popular series of children’s books was established in 1942 in the midst of World War II, and when Little Golden Books celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1992, it was claimed that 1.5 billion books had been sold. Collecting the series is fun and can be done on a shoestring budget.
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The first issue of Eagle comic was released on April 14, 1950 and almost immediately it began selling nearly one million copies per week. Not bad for something dreamed up by a vicar and an out-of-work artist.
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Australians are recognised as one of the largest consumers and readers of magazines in the world, but through the 20th century the magazine has generally been treated as unimportant ephemera.
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It seemed like a waste of money, but a closer look at Warne’s Model Cookery revealed a long-forgotten Victorian quaintness.
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They started out as ‘penny bloods’: cheap booklets that told gruesome tales of murder and mayhem. At their peak there were up to 100 different publishers of sensational stories guaranteed to titillate the Victorian masses.
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Rupert Bear was born on November 8, 1920 in the UK Daily Express newspaper. Written in comic strip format with the captions in verse, the first Rupert was written by Mary Tourtel and the popularity of this ‘terribly English’ little bear has remained constant for almost 100 years.
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