NSW Bookstall Company collection now online

Founded by Henry Lloyd in 1879, the NSW Bookstall Company started as a chain of railway kiosks selling affordable paperbacks to travellers at a time when most travel was undertaken by rail. After Lloyd’s death in 1897, Alfred Cecil Rowlandson bought the business and led the Company’s successful foray into mass market paperback publishing. It published Australian popular fiction and postcards, operated bookshops, circulating libraries and a news agency distribution. The company operated from 1879-1946.

The collection features over a hundred original images, a third of which are bold and eye-catching cover designs by renowned Australian artists, notably the Lindsay brothers, Lionel, Percy and Norman; Sydney Ure Smith; Arthur Moginie; and Percy Spence among others. 

Start browsing the Library’s Digital Collections online.