A Bookseller's Archive: For almost six decades Kay has collected articles relating to the world of books, and in particular to the book trade in Australia and internationally. Many of these have been taken from press articles at the time of issue, but relevant clippings have been found between the leaves of books she has purchased. The archive also includes memorabilia from book trade events. It is understandably heavily focussed on the careers of Kay and Muriel Craddock; it is also a unique ephemeral record of bookselling from the middle of the twentieth into the early decades of the twenty-first centuries.
Drawing partly on this archive, together with other experiences during her years as a bookseller, Kay has started to compile a series of recollections and comments in the form of today’s 'blogs' which, together with items from the archive , will irregularly be appended to her weekly electronic shortlists, under the heading 'Marginal Notes'.
One of the bonuses of being a generalist bookseller is the anticipation of the next purchase—as we deal in secondhand items, we cannot order our stock from a publisher’s list or wholesale outlet. Although the next offering has not always been exciting, many have. For example, we are currently cataloguing...
read more about Marginal Notes 49: Unusual offerings – sea shells, false teeth and a beaded gown
As my sixty-first anniversary in business approaches on the 28th of May, I am reflecting on my genesis as a bookseller. I was raised in a family where reading and a love of books was actively encouraged.
My family had come to Melbourne from Adelaide, via Perth, in 1956. Apart...
read more about Marginal Notes 48: The importance and impact of libraries
In November 2025 I wrote a Marginal Note entitled ‘Mentors matter’, in which I mentioned, without detail, an English bookseller who played an important role in my development as a bookseller. Recently, when spending some time revisiting books in my library at home I came across a copy of a....
Signed copy: . . . just bearing the author’s signature – and could often be the result of a promotional book signing session.
Association copy: . . . a book which once belonged to, or was annotated by, the author; which once belonged to someone connected with the author or...
read more about Marginal Notes 46: Signed and association copies
Some years ago I formed a special friendship with an Australian book collector, based purely on our correspondence by email.
As a member of the internationally based Private Libraries Association, I knew of Cyril Wyatt in his role as Australasian Membership Secretary. In 2013 I was asked if I would...
This is the third in a series of articles about some Melbourne book collectors written in the 1960s by Melbourne journalist Stuart Sayers for "The Age Literary Supplement. The series was reprinted as a collection in the 1970s. We have already featured the first two of the three featured book...
read more about Marginal Notes 44: Melbourne Book Collectors 3 – Ian F. McLaren
From Monday 12 to Saturday 24 January 2026, we offer a net 20% price reduction
on all stock for in-store and website sales. Use the code 20PERCENT at checkout.
During the weeks my husband, Jonathan Burdon, was in Caritas Christi Hospice in Kew, Victoria, he and I had many conversations about...
read more about Marginal Notes 43: Jonathan’s goodwill gesture
With compliments of the season and goodwill to all from Kay, Alison, David and Patrice
CHRISTMAS TRADING 2025
Our Collins Street bookshop will be closed on
Thursday December 25, 2025
Friday December 26, 2025
Thursday January 1, 2026
Our normal in store trading hours are:
Monday to Friday 10am...
Jonathan (JB) wore many hats. He was a husband and father, grandfather and friend. He was active in private medical practice as a respiratory physician, a past Chairman of The Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand and the National Asthma Council Australia and was Director of Respiratory Medicine at...
There are several ‘official’ definitions of the word ‘mentor’: ‘an experienced and trusted adviser’; ‘a person who gives a younger or less experienced person help and advice over a period of time, especially at work or school’; ‘an experienced individual who provides guidance, support, and instruction to another person, often referred to...
My husband, Jonathan Burdon, and I have recently moved house. One of the tasks was packing our library for temporary storage. This included a large part of my book trade reference works, and Jonathan’s personal collection of SAS books. I believe it is fairly common knowledge that I, as a....
In the 1960s, Melbourne journalist Stuart Sayers wrote a series of articles for "The Age Literary Supplement”, entitled Melbourne's Book Collectors. The second featured book collector was Dr. H. Boyd Graham [1891-1965], who, along with his father and grandfather, created the Graham library, comprising upwards of 3,000 rare volumes.
...read more about Marginal Notes 39: Melbourne Book Collectors - Dr. H. Boyd Graham
Over the past seven decades we have had the pleasure of handling several author specific collections. These have included Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Arthur W. Upfield, Maurice Sendak, Thomas J. Wise, Edward Thomas and Winston S. Churchill and his family.
My first experience cataloguing an author collection was not as...
read more about Marginal Notes 38: My first experience of T. E. Lawrence
"On 9 July 1990 Gaston Renard passed away at the age of 75. Three days later, following an asthma attack, Margaret Woodhouse died at her home in Gordon on Sydney’s North Shore. Margaret had become president of ANZAAB in 1989. One of her last actions as president was to write...
read more about Marginal Notes 37: Remembering Margaret Woodhouse
On May 28th, 1965, my mother Muriel, father Les, and I opened our first shop in Buckley Street, Essendon. Our stock was a combination of secondhand books, bric-a-brac, old furniture, and handicrafts that Muriel and I had made. Sadly, my father Les died of a heart attack two months after...
In the 1960s, Melbourne journalist Stuart Sayers wrote a series of articles for "The Age Literary Supplement”, entitled Melbourne's Book Collectors. As introduction, Stuart wrote: "Book Collecting is not an art, a science or a business, although elements of all these are important in its successful practice. The definition nearest...
read more about Marginal Notes 35: Melbourne Book Collectors
The Basilisk Press of London was founded by Charlene Gary in 1974, who, in 1978 also opened The Basilisk Bookshop in Hampstead to deal exclusively in the works of private presses and limited editions. Sadly, the shop closed in 1984 ‘as I grew bored by the non-bibliographic public asking Why...
read more about Marginal Notes 34: Writers and Readers: Charlene Garry, The Basilisk Press
In 1988 my mother, Muriel, and I were invited by an elderly lady, Miss Pratt, to view a collection of books in her Victorian-era house in Hawthorn. These proved to be unexciting...
Amongst my book trade archives which include Stuart Sayer’s Writer and Reader columns, published in Melbourne’s The Age newspaper, dating from July 1965 to July 1986, is this interview with Gaston Renard which was aptly headed ‘He is doyen of our antiquarian trade’.
My mother, Muriel Craddock, and I were...
read more about Marginal Notes 32: Writers and Readers: Gaston Renard
Late last year I had the pleasure of lunching at Melbourne’s Swiss Club with my old mate, Jim Lowden – we spent an enjoyable two hours reminiscing.
Jim and I met in the early 1970s, when I was a fledgling bookseller and Jim was a fledgling printer/ publisher. We had...
With compliments of the season and goodwill to all from Kay and Jonathan, Alison, David and Patrice
CHRISTMAS TRADING 2024
Our Collins Street bookshop will be closed on
Wednesday December 25, 2024
Thursday December 26, 2024
Wednesday January 1, 2025
Our normal in store trading hours are:
Monday to...
My husband, Jonathan Burdon, and I recently attended the funeral of our long-standing friend, John Drury OAM. During the service moving tributes were paid by John’s wife, Dr. Dianne Reilly AM, and members of his family, recalling the many talents and special characteristics of this remarkable man. Our experiences with...
For some time since starting my series of Marginal Notes I have intended to write about the group known as the Burdon Family Booksellers, of which I am pleased to be a member. The role call includes the late Tom and Barbara Burdon, my husband, Dr Jonathan Burdon AM (who...
read more about Marginal Notes 29: Burdon Family Booksellers
This question is usually posed after something bad has affected people’s books, such as fire or smoke damage, or being eaten by silverfish and other vermin –or by the family dog. Sometimes the damage occurs through a misguided attempt to preserve one’s books. Sadly, best intentions can become weapons of...
read more about Marginal Notes 28: How should I care for my books?
No other title could suit Jack Bradstreet better than the one used for an article by Sharon Gray, published in The Age, Melbourne, on the 22nd of November 2005. Jack was, indeed, a gentleman, who has also been described as a gentle, erudite, quixotic man. Jack’s bookselling career in Melbourne...
read more about Marginal Notes 27: Jack Bradstreet, gentleman bookseller
![Marginal Notes 26: Writers and Readers: A. H. Spencer [1886-1971]](/images/upload/event_press_36_1.jpg?v=1726536294)
Writers and Readers: Last chapter of a bookman [Stuart Sayers The Melbourne Age, 1971]. A. H. Spencer [1886-1971]
It is one of my regrets that I was not able to visit A. H. Spencer’s Hill of Content bookstore during his reign at 86 Bourke Street, Melbourne. Although the bookstore continues...
read more about Marginal Notes 26: Writers and Readers: A. H. Spencer [1886-1971]
Our practice of placing a paper slip showing full collation details within each of our books had its genesis in two early experiences in our bookselling journey.
The first was when I, as a teenager, bought a book of Adam Lindsay Gordon’s poems from a secondhand bookshop in Windsor. From...
Writers and Readers: George Whitman, Shakespeare and Company, Paris [Stuart Sayers The Melbourne Age 24 April 1984]
One of the book trade biographies that I particularly enjoyed during my early years as a bookseller was Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare and Company [Faber, London, 1960]. During a trip to Paris some years later...
A permanent collection of owls is scattered throughout our bookshop. The first of these, two small wax candles in the shape of an owl, were made for me by my very young nieces, Marilla and Kylie, in the 1970s. Such was my enthusiasm that they continued to give me an...
My first forays into the joy of cataloguing were, in retrospect, rather precocious. My early ambitions included becoming a writer, an artist, or a librarian. At the age of fifteen, I held two exhibitions of my high school art in my bedroom at home. For the first I prepared a....
Melbourne in July
If you are curious about old books and what makes them collectable, if maps and printed ephemera attract you, then Melbourne in July is your destination. From 18-27 July Melbourne Rare Book Week will celebrate the history, the challenge and the fun of collecting and learning about old, rare...
Richard Griffin (18.10.1933–23.10 1991) was a man of many parts—he was a book designer, book publisher, bookbinder, magazine editor and publisher, art and music lover, and an enthusiastic skier. He was once, to his great indignation, described as ‘a fey Irishman’. He was a dear friend.
It has been said...
read more about Marginal Notes 20: Richard Griffin, bookbinder and publisher
Naming a business is an interesting exercise, often dependent upon such aspects as timing, location, competition, ego and/or the whim of the business owner. When planning the opening of our shop in Essendon, my parents and I would have thought it the height of vanity to use our own name...
Albert Ullin was born in Frankfurt on 29 April, 1930, and arrived in Melbourne in 1939, escaping pre-war Germany via Italy with his family. Whilst working for other booksellers he was sent to schools to talk to teachers and parents about children’s literature. At the time he felt there were...
There have been many books written about the role of men and women during the two world wars and the many other wars that have, sadly, followed. For all these gallant people, there are thousands of other ‘ordinary people’ whose war experiences have not been chronicled.
Two such men are...
April 13 marks the anniversary of my mother Muriel Craddock’s birth, the day before the Titanic’s fateful collision with an iceberg. She grew up in Wallaroo, on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, and her first experience in the workforce was as a manual exchange telephonist at the Wallaroo Post...
read more about Marginal Notes 16: Remembering Muriel Rose Craddock
I can’t recall why, on my very first overseas book buying trip to England in 1971, I decided to travel via the USA – including a visit to Disneyland. It was not as if Disney characters had been a major part of my childhood fantasy world. It was probably something...
On Friday last week I received in the mail a copy of Guarded by Dragons: Encounters with Rare Books and Rare People, inscribed to me by its author, Rick Gekoski, who had promised to send it during his recent visit to Melbourne for the Australian Open tennis tournament.
Rick’s life...
In 2022, after the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant Melbourne lockdowns, our Collins Street lease was nearing its end and we had to think long and hard about our future as an open bookshop in the centre of Melbourne. We had occupied the semi-basement at 156 Collins Street for over...
read more about Marginal Notes 13: A new chapter in an ongoing story
Our bookshop will be closed to the public for
approximately three weeks from
MONDAY 29 JANUARY 2024.
Items can still be purchased from our website and ‘click and collect’ is available by arrangement.
Telephone enquiries 03 9654 8506
Email enquiries books@kaycraddock.com
Late last year I took part in a rescheduled meeting – more than twenty years after the original meeting date in the early 2000s. At that time, I was visiting London after attending an ILAB meeting and I had been asked by Sheila Markham if she could interview me for...
With compliments of the season and goodwill to all from
Kay, Jonathan, Alison, David and Patrice
As a reminder, we are open tomorrow and Saturday for last minute browsing
Our Collins Street bookshop will be closed on
Monday December 25, 2023
Tuesday December 26, 2023
Monday January 1, 2024
Our...
One of the consequences of our longevity as booksellers is the opportunity to reoffer books that we have sold over the past six decades. 2023 has brought us many libraries, ranging from just a handful to 140 large boxes of books. They have mainly come from long-time customers who are...
As a teenager who loved to read, I would usually gravitate to novels. It was my father, Leslie Craddock, who led me to an appreciation of the short story, introducing me to writers such as Saki, O. Henry and Damon Runyon, as well as stories that he had written. In...
read more about Marginal Note 10: The art of the short story
My love affair with private press books began in the late 1960s, when we had our first Melbourne CBD bookshop at 569 Bourke Street, near King Street. I would periodically visit the secondhand bookshop of N. H. Seward at the top end of Bourke Street, near Exhibition Street and spend...
When preparing our current shortlist devoted to ‘Crime and punishment in fact and fiction’ I began reflecting on the irony of my love of crime fiction and my aversion to true crime. I began reading crime related novels many decades ago, working my way through the ‘gentle’ murder plots of...
read more about Marginal Notes 8: A reflection on crime and punishment
Writers and Readers : John Holroyd [The Melbourne Age 27 January 1979]
My book trade archives include Stuart Sayer’s Writer and Reader columns, published in Melbourne’s The Age newspaper, dating from July 1965 to July 1986. They featured articles predominantly about Australian booksellers and publishers, including members of The Australian...
read more about Marginal Notes 7: From my book trade archive
Sometime in the 1990s, we became friends with Melbourne artist Leslie van Der Sluys, which led to us selling his hand-coloured linocuts of Australian flora and fauna in our bookshop.
Leslie named many of his works after friends, and my mother, Muriel, and I were delighted with 'Kay's Lesser...
read more about Marginal Notes 6: Remembering Leslie van der Sluys
When preparing our shortlist devoted to sporting books, I was reminded of my own forays into sporting pursuits – all two of them.
During our childhood my two sisters and I were taught by our father, Les Craddock, how to handle a cue:
Les was an early enthusiast for small...
From Thursday 27 July until Saturday 29 July, 2023, the 51st Australian Antiquarian Book Fair (https://rarebookfair.com/) will be held at Wilson Hall, The University of Melbourne.
This will be the tenth time that the Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers (ANZAAB) presents the Fair at Wilson Hall. Previous...
As a collector, it is natural to want to record one’s name in a book or, when giving a book as a gift, to inscribe it with a loving message. However, it is acknowledged by both booksellers and collectors alike that copies of books with ownership inscriptions are usually undesirable
...
Marginal Notes 2: A tribute to a true bookman
Since Barry Humphries's untimely death in April this year, many of our customers have contacted us to say how sorry they were to hear this news, with several reminiscing about meeting or at least seeing Barry in our bookshop.
Barry Humphries...
read more about Marginal Notes 2: A tribute to a true bookman
At 9.00 am on Friday May 28 1965, at 127 Buckley Street, Essendon, my parents and I opened the door to a new phase in our lives.
When the shop first opened, it was not a bookshop. Books were there in numbers, but they competed with kerosene lamps, handicrafts, antiques...