Alec Bolton worked as an editor on the
Australian Encyclopaedia during the 1950s. He also worked for Ure Smith and Angus and Robertson. For a period until 1971 he was Angus and Robertson's London editor. From 1971-1987 he was Director of Publications at the National Library and also ran his private press, the Brindabella Press (known between 1985 and 1992 as the Officina Brindabella). Bolton was married to the poet
Rosemary Dobson.
