Stockdale was known for publishing works which supported the Tory administration of William Pitt, which was probably a factor in his success - and his unpopularity with other, more liberal booksellers. The Picture of London (R. Phillips, 1802) described Stockdale's shop, opposite Burlington House in Piccadilly, as a "fashionable lounging place" favoured by Tory gentleman, while those sympathetic to the Whig party preferred Debrett's next door.
Stockdale's contacts within the government allowed him access to the accounts of the officers of the first fleet to New South Wales, and he became something like an official publisher to the infant settlement. His publications included The History of New Holland, from its First Discovery in 1616, to the present time. (1787), The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay; with an account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson & Norfolk Island (1789), and John Hunter's An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island (1792). These works were compiled from official despatches, elaborately printed, illustrated and bound, and aimed at a genteel market.
