Wednesday, May 28, 2025

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 the opening.

In 1967, at the urging of one of our customers who had an empty retail shop in the city, my mother and I took a sub-lease at 569 Bourke Street, Melbourne, whilst continuing to run the Essendon shop for another two years.

There have been many highlights and quite a few low moments in my bookselling career.

They say. What say they? Let them say!

This famous mottoe, with its early Greek origins, has been adopted by many over the centuries. It was often quoted to me by my mother during the difficult times in our careers. During our first week in business in May, 1965, amidst all the congratulatory comments, we heard the casual remark: I wonder how long they will last?   In 1967, the week before we opened our second bookshop in Bourke Street, and while the windows were still covered with paper, a comment drifted through the half-opened door: I bet they won’t last longer than six months.

Another surprisingly motivational decision was to leave school at the age of sixteen, having failed to pass my Intermediate Certificate. A school friend tried hard to persuade me to change my mind, challenging me with his belief that I would never achieve anything worthwhile in life if I left school so early.

I wonder now if these early negative predictions became the challenges that have contributed to the longevity of my business? Although my father did not live long enough to see the business prosper, my mother Muriel remained my partner in the bookshop for five decades, only retiring at 96 years of age due to macular degeneration. She died in 2017 at the grand age of 105 years and 8 months, having maintained her interest in our bookshop for most of those years.

In reflecting on my life as a bookseller I am acutely aware of, and grateful for, the support of many, including friends, colleagues and our customers. I am no longer able to celebrate this milestone with my mother and business partner Muriel Craddock, but I am glad to be able to pay tribute and give thanks to my husband, Dr Jonathan Burdon, for his support and involvement in the bookshop over the past twenty-four years.  

We are fortunate (some may say foolhardy) to occupy prime Melbourne retail space in The Assembly Hall building at 156 Collins Street, a fine example of Gothic Revival architecture which formerly housed the much-loved Presbyterian Bookroom. We continue to enjoy an open-shop environment which encompasses both antiquarian and general secondhand bookselling. Importantly, Jonathan and I are grateful for the support and assistance of our general manager, Alison Sayers, who joined the bookshop in 1987 and David Cosgrove, who joined us in 2014. Together we enter our seventh decade of bookselling with a continuing commitment to the time-honoured traditions of our trade.