E W Cole was of the greats of the early Australian book trade.
As well as running Coles Book Arcade - possibly the largest bookstore in late Victorian and Edwardian Melbourne, he imported and resold second hand books from England, as well as new books, produced children's annuals and published cheap editions of popular books.
Today, while working on the historic book collection at the Athenaeum, I came across this rather nice example of one of EW Coles discount editions
A copy of Helen's Babies by the American author John Habberton.
Intended as a humourous novel and popular in its time, it tells the story of a confirmed bachelor, who is persuaded by his sister to come and look after her children while she goes off on holiday with her husband.
The book is printed as part of Coles Favourite Library.
Unfortunately the book is undated and I've been unable (so far) to trace when it was published, but I'd guess somewhere between 1890 and 1910.
Neither the NLA or the SLV hold a copy, and while there is a copy in the NSW State Library's collection, it too is listed as undated.
The book is printed in England on good quality if thin paper and has a decent binding and an embossed cardboard and cloth cover. Perhaps not quite so well made as some of the books produced by mainstream publishers, but definitely better produced than the yellowbacks of the time.
I'd guess that Cole had discovered that he could get his cheap editions produced more cheaply in England than Australia, despite the cost of shipping, which may explain the slow growth of the Australian publishing industry in the early twentieth century...
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