Harry Tatlock Miller, the proprietor of Geelong's The Book Nook Bookshop, published the first issue of Manuscripts: The Book Nook Miscellany in November 1931. The second issue appeared in June 1931 and then from November 1932, the magazine appeared in a new format under the title Manuscripts: A Miscellany of Art and Letters.
Conceived primarily as a form of advertising for his bookshop, the first issue printed reviews of books in stock. In addition, it contained original lino-cuts by local artists and a small number of poems by Miller and others. Despite offering no payment, the magazine attracted contributions from a number of well-known writers including Hugh McCrae, Nettie Palmer, Lionel Lindsay, Katharine Susannah Prichard and Clive Turnbull.
Manuscripts was printed on high quality paper with glossy pages for photographs and other reproductions. Scholars such as H. M. Green and John Tregenza agree that the standard of poetry and criticism in the magazine was not high, but the magazine was an important publication for the arts community of its time. Reviews of overseas publications were prominent in most issues and the goals of this policy were made clear in the twelfth number when an entire section on contemporary European literature was introduced. Hirsch Munz, academic and editor of this section, wrote 'We are inclined to believe that the retarded growth of Australian literature is due essentially to the isolation which engenders a spirit of provincialism.'
Despite a relatively healthy circulation, Manuscripts ceased publication after the thirteenth issue. Miller continued as editor, but the last two issues were published by The Bookshop of Margareta Webber in Melbourne with A. C. Jackson as co-editor. The smaller thirteenth issue may have been an attempt to cut costs, but the fourteenth number did not appear, ending the run of Manuscripts in May 1935.
