Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Synopsis The emphasis of this subject will fall on the Australian experience. Following the methods of physical bibliographers and the preoccupations of Annales-School historians of mentalities, some emphasis will be placed on technical aspects and on the international context of the Australian trade in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. After an introduction on the aims and ambitions of the new historians of books in the northern hemisphere, eg Robert Darnton, Henri-Jean Martin and Roger Chartier, various topics relevant to Australia from 1788 to the present will be studied through selected readings. Among the questions to be examined are the measurement of literacy, the organisation of the British and North American trade, consignments, the role of the newspaper office, the development of periodicals, wholesalers and publishers in colonial and post-colonial Australia, copyright and the Net Book Agreement, the rise of international conglomerates, the commercial circulating library and the reading experience. Comparisons will be made with other former British colonies, notably New Zealand and Canada.
Assessment Research essay: (6000 words): 60% + Two class papers: (1500-2000 words): 20% each