A.W. Reed was a former chair of the New Zealand publishing firm, A.H. & A.W. Reed, and a nephew of Sir Alfred Hamish Reed, who established the firm in Dunedin in 1907. A.W. Reed joined the firm in 1925, and established its general publishing business in Wellington in 1932. The publishing house extended to Sydney in 1963, and Reed was managing director until 1966. He retired in 1971.
The AustLit record for Reed Books contains more information on the Reed publishing firm, which has become the most successful to emerge from New Zealand and now publishes books around the world.
A.W. Reed was an extremely prolific author who wrote over 200 books, including many volumes of indigenous stories from New Zealand, Fiji and Australia, and several books on indigenous culture, history and place names. He also wrote many books on Australian, New Zealand and South Pacific history, as well as readers and information books for children. Reed's many works on Australian topics include Myths and Legends of Australia (1965), The Mischievous Crow : Stories of the Aborigines (1969), Aboriginal Place Names and Their Meanings (1967), and The Wonder Book of Australian Animals (1970). He also edited two selections from the diaries of Captain James Cook which were published as Captain Cook in Australia (1969), and Captain Cook in New Zealand (1969). Seven of his books are still in print today, including the Reed Concise Maori Dictionary and the Reed Dictionary of New Zealand Place Names.
