Publisher and printer William Brooks and Co. was established in George Street in Sydney around 1890, by compositor William Brooks. In 1895 the business opened a branch in Elizabeth Street, Brisbane. It was incorporated as William Brooks and Co. Ltd in 1901.
William Brooks and Co. expanded as a publisher after winning the tender for school readers for the NSW Education Department. The firm became a major educational publisher in NSW and Queensland, and as well as readers, published spelling, history, geography and arithmetic books. It also published some notable illustrated Australian children's books, some illustrated by D. H. Souter, who was manager of the art department in the 1890s.
The company appears to have ceased publishing in the mid-1980s, but continued as a printer, of Robert Street, Sydney.