Bookselling History
The first bookstore was opened in 110½ Market Street, Sydney by Scotsman David Angus in 1884; it initially sold only secondhand books. In 1886, he went into partnership with fellow Scot George Robertson with whom he had worked earlier. This George Robertson should not be confused with his contemporary, George Robertson the Melbourne bookseller, who later traded as Robertson & Mullens.
In 1895 the company moved to 89 Castlereagh Street, Sydney. The head office of the firm was at Castlereagh Street until the 1950s. The shop was known as the "biggest bookshop in the world". In 1907 the partnership was converted into a public company – Angus & Robertson Limited. In 1951 a store was established in Australia's High Commission in London, which operated until the 1970s.
In the 1950s, Angus & Robertson began the growth which led it to become Australia's first nationwide chain of bookstores. In 1977, it opened its first franchise store in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. In 2006, the company had over 170 stores spread throughout the country, and it claimed that it had more than twice as many stores as Australia's next largest bookseller. The firm had about 18% share in the Australian book retail market.
George Robertson encouraged book collector David Scott Mitchell to convert to collecting in the then-neglected field of Australian literature. Mitchell accumulated a large collection (many bought from A&R), which ultimately formed the basis of the Mitchell Library of the State Library of New South Wales.
Read more about this topic: Angus & Robertson
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