Establishing the bookstall network

Jimmy Rodney on Secret Service: The first comic from NSW Bookstall, published late 1940.

For a few years from 1940, the long-running NSW Bookstall Company engaged local artists to establish the first distinctive line of Australian comics, including some creators who would continue to produce comics and cartoons for many decades—especially Noel Cook and Brodie Mack.

It was probably in 1879¹ that Henry Lloyd (1847-1897) gained the rights to run bookstalls at train and ferry stations in NSW, established the N.S.W. Railway Bookstall Company, and modernised an operation previously focused on ticket sales.

NSW Bookstall origins: 'Literature at Railway Stations' (19 January 1882). Evening News p. 2. from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article107989191

Lloyd had arrived from the United Kingdom that year after working with the famous English bookstall firm W.H. Smith and Sons.² Securing the opportunity for a similar business in Sydney, he brought that British approach to an expanding chain of Sydney bookstalls, initially in Redfern, Newcastle, Parramatta and Granville.

On 12 November 1881, Lloyd announced 'Progress at Newcastle' in regional NSW, with 'a handsome and well stocked bookstall' and 'newspapers at published prices' and books and stationery 'at less than Sydney prices, marked in plain figures'.³

Assigned to his Wife or, The Adventures of George Flower, the Celebrated Detective Officer [nn] ([1888])

Then in November, he announced similar progress for 'The bookstall at Sydney Terminus', Redfern from 1 January 1882: 'a large and varied assortment of books, in all classes of literature, stationery and newspapers of every kind''.⁴ A contemporary reporter enthused:

"The Railway Bookstall Company have taken the initiative in the establishment of bookstalls at the principal railway stations throughout the colony. A very handsome stall, similar to those with which travellers on the English railways are familiar, has been fitted up at Redfern station, and the system has already been extended to several other stations. The plan adopted by the company for the display and disposal of books, periodicals, newspapers, &c., is an adaptation of that which, during the past 40 years, has become such a marked success throughout England under the management of Messrs. W. H. Smith and Sons. At present the company's stalls are for the sale only of books, &c., but we believe it will prove a convenience to the public to have a lending library established in connection with the stalls, as in Victoria, so that railway travellers would be able, for a small fee, to borrow a book at one station, and return it at another."⁵

Sydney Railway Station: 'N.S.W. Bookstall Co.' (3 November 1900) The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser p. 1061 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163697280

By 1883, the company had bookstalls spread to stations at Redfern, Newtown, Petersham, Ashfield, Burwood, Granville, Parramatta, Goulburn, Albury, Narandera, Junee and Newcastle, as well as stores at the corner of Elizabeth and Liverpool Streets, and 130 King Street in the city.⁶

At some point around 1883/84, Lloyd completely abandoned the trading name N.S.W. Railway Bookstall Company in favour of N.S.W. Bookstall Company.⁷ He published some paperback fiction books, generally reprints or editions of books printed and published in England, with the NSW Bookstall imprint added for Australian distribution.⁸

Lloyd died suddenly of a heart attack on Friday 24 September 1897.⁹ His widow briefly retained ownership of the company under the management of Alfred Cecil Rowlandson.¹⁰ She initially offered to sell the company to her son-in-law, Reginald Watkin Smyth Wynn (1866–1925), who declined (but later became Managing Director). Rowlandson subsequently bought the firm.

Australian-born AC Rowlandson (15/6/1865–15/6/1922) had limited formal education and entered the workforce aged eleven as shop boy at a Shilling Shop.¹¹ At 19 years of age he joined the NSW Bookstall Company selling tram tickets and was a manager by 1887. Within a year of Lloyd's death, he acquired the company as sole proprietor and successfully retained the government rights to operate railway bookstalls in Sydney.¹²