Cirrus@Austlit

'Following up Brian Taylor's comment regarding the dearth of Biblionews articles forthcoming on collections of books relating to the First World War, I tender this brief note on two collections which hold fiction and non-fiction books and booklets written for children and teens relating to the Great War. Literature about the War or in the context of the War written for children during the war years is a collecting category not well-known or researched. Books, booklets and children's magazines articles in this category include both non fiction and fiction contributions.' (Introduction)

'Henry Lawson is not read as much now as when I was at school 50 years ago; nevertheless, he is still widely acknowledge as one of the most significant figures in the development of a distinctive Australian literature. Despite some of his work being a bit dated, I regard highly and treasure the collection I have of all his first editions, especially his first book Short Stories in Prose and Verse (now a very rare book) published by his mother Louisa, at her Dawn Press in Sydney in 1894. There are, however, aspects of Lawson's character that I find particularly unappealing. One of these flaws was his habit to wallow in self pit while seeking to put the blame on others whenever he was in financial trouble, which was most of the time. The root cause of this, of course, was his alcoholism.' ( introduction)

'Stuart Kells is a young (some might say middle-aged, but these things are relative) bibliophile, just hitting his straps as an author. He served his apprenticeship as a book-runner, book collector, dealer, scholar and academic, and has previously written two books : Rare A Life Among Antiquarian Books (Folio 2011), a biography of bookseller Kay Craddock; and Penguin and the Lane Brothers  (Black Inc,., 2015), the history of the famous imprint and its founders, which was the winner of the 2015 Ashurst Business Literature Prize, administered by the State Library of New South Wales. Wit his wife Fiona, he was part of the team which edited Outback Penguin - Richard Lane's Barwell Diaries (Black Inc. & The Lane Press, 2016).' (Introduction)