This issue of the Australasian also includes
An advertisement for the London monthly The Young Ladies' Journal. The advertisement states that the magazine 'contains suitable reading for families, ... interesting to everybody at home and abroad'.
An advertisement for an amateur's guide to producing plays, available from Charlwood, Bourke-street, Melbourne. (The advertised guide is probably W. J. Sorrell's The Amateur's Hand-Book and Guide to Home or Drawing Room Theatricals: How to Get Them Up and How to Act in Them, published by T. H. Lacy, London, [1866].)
An advertisement for bookseller Charles Muskett stating that all advertised books are sent post free 'on receipt of stamps'.
An advertisement for Dwight's catalogue containing 4,800 lots 'forming the best miscellaneous collections, new and secondhand, hitherto published in Australia'.
An advertisement for the 'complete colonial edition' of Edgar Allan Poe's poetical works, available from Charles Muskett, 78 Bourke-street east.
An advertisement for parts 4-8 of London Miscellany, available from Charles Muskett, bookseller.
– From Mrs. Beecher Stowe's Chimney-Corner.
– Mrs. Beecher Stowe writes for the American ladies, but her arguments are of universal application, and are well worthy of attention here.
'Actaeon' provides an account of the hunt, beginning in Essendon and extending north to Keilor.
'Lounger' reflects on Melbourne's recent political and social events. He includes a comment on a Melbourne journal that purports to give 'a fair representation of the opinions expressed in the leading columns of the principal Victorian newspapers'. The journal states that it will, 'as much as possible', quote 'the very words' of the original items, but will at least preserve their 'pith and spirit'. On the evidence of a 'quoted' item from the Argus, 'Lounger' is inclined to doubt this undertaking. (AustLit has not yet established which journal 'Lounger' was writing about.)
Among the 'Topics of the Week', the Australasian reflects satirically on the benefits of Sir Redmond Barry's tree-planting endeavours at Pentridge Gaol. Another topic is the legal case brought by William Gourlay against Ambrose Kyte. Gourlay contended that Kyte broke a promise to let St George's Hall to Gourlay. Gourlay, who lost the case, sought damages of £1,000.
An overview of news from England including the latest from London's theatres and opera houses, and the titles of book publications for the month of May1868.
An advertisement for Charles Haddon Spurgeon's sermons 'in large quantities', available from Buzzard, Melbourne.
The Melbourne Trade Address Directory lists businesses alphabetically by type. The list, when first published (8 August 1868), included 'Booksellers & Stationers' (T. M. Buzzard, Charlwood & Son, Samuel Mullen, H. T. Dwight and G. Nichols) and 'Printers & Publishers' (Mason, Firth & Co., and Stillwell & Knight). On its subsequent appearances (15 August 1868 onwards), bookseller and stationer A. J. Smith was added to the list.
A review of the performance of Dion Boucicault's London Assurance and a scene from James Sheridan Knowles's The Hunchback at the Duke of Edinburgh Theatre, 1 August 1868. Jaques pays particular attention to the acting, especially the roles undertaken by Marie St Denis.
Jaques also reviews the performance of John Augustin Daly's Leah the Forsaken at the Theatre Royal, August 1868.
