Cirrus@Austlit

Focusing on newspapers, the essay reports on an element of the Resourceful Reading inquiry, 'a project which aims to bring large-scale empirical data collection and analysis to the study of Australian literature' (119). The authors are examining the ways in which books are represented as cultural and commercial objects in newspapers in the interwar period, choosing as an example the month of December, 1930. The findings in relation to Australian literature 'point to the previously under-reported significance of the regional press, as well as the enormous diversity and range of books discussed in Australian newspapers' (120). The collected data also suggests that the book trade in Australia at the time was dominated by English publishers.