Cirrus@Austlit

William Moffitt established a bookbinding, printing, engraving and stationery business at 8 King Street, Sydney - opposite 'Mrs Anthony Hordern's Strawbonnet Warehouse' - in 1830. In August 1833, Moffitt relocated to 23 Pitt Street, where his business flourished. Moffitt's primary area of activity was in jobbing printing, engraving and stationery rather than book selling or publishing, but his varied skills aided his business success.

Moffitt had an excellent trade in the production of trade cards and letterheads for colonial businesses (the designs of which were often engraved by Moffitt himself), and he produced the first bank notes for the Bank of New Zealand in the 1840s.

Moffitt's main publishing interest was in the production of almanacs and directories, but he also published John Lhotsky's Illustrations of the Present State and Future Prospects of New South Wales (1835-1836), and George Ferrers Pickering's poetry anthology Gold Pen and Pencil Sketches.

Moffitt sold his business to Thomas R. Yeo in 1874 and the business was again sold in 1886, this time to W. C. Penfold.