George Robertson (5 July 1825 – 23 March 1898) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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n businessman as an early bookseller and publisher of

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. Robertson was born at

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. His parents moved to

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when he was four years old. He subsequently became

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

d to a firm of publishers. He worked for a time with Currey and Company Booksellers in Scotland. In

he had become friendly with

Samuel Mullen Samuel Mullen (27 November 1828 – 29 May 1890) was an Irish-born bookseller, active in Australia.J. P. Holroyd,Mullen, Samuel (1828 – 1890), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Vol. 5, Melbourne University Press, 1974, pp 309-310. Retrieve ...

and the two young men decided to

emigrate Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

. They reached

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

on ''Great Britain'' in 1852, bringing with them a collection of books. Robertson opened first in Russell Street but soon moved to Collins Street, and around 1861 built a three-storey building at 69 Elizabeth Street. The business was developing fast, principally on the wholesale side. In those days there were no publishers' representatives in Australia, and the great problem for the bookseller was to forecast what would be popular, and order a sufficient number of copies to meet the demand. Around 1873 large premises were built in Little Collins Street, with provision for stationery, book-binding, lithography, etc., and branches were opened in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. Commencing January 1875 he published the quarterly magazine ''Melbourne Review'' whose contents consisted chiefly of essays of quality and diversity. The issue of July 1885 may have been the last. In 1891 a revival was announced, with

Henry Giles Turner Henry may refer to: People * Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portuga ...

as editor, and again published by Robertson & Co., but it is not known if even one issue was printed. In 1890 Robertson retired and the business was carried on by his son, Charles. It was eventually formed into a company which in 1922 was amalgamated with Melville and Mullens under the name of Robertson and Mullens Ltd. He was married twice and had a large family. The need for encouraging local literature was not then fully appreciated, but Robertson published such books as Gordon's ''Sea Spray and Smoke Drift'' (1867), Kendall's ''

Leaves from Australian Forests ''Leaves from Australian Forests'' (1869) is the second collection of poems by Australian poet Henry Kendall. It was released in hardback by George Robertson in 1869, and features the poet's widely anthologised poems "Bell-Birds", "The Hut by t ...

'' (1869),and

James Brunton Stephens James Brunton Stephens (17 June 1835 – 29 June 1902) was a Scottish-born Australian poet, and author of ''Convict Once''. Early life Stephens was born in Bo'ness, on the Firth of Forth, Scotland; the son of John Stephens, the parish schoo ...

' ''The Black Gin and other Poems'' (1873).

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, George (bookseller) Businesspeople from Glasgow 19th-century Australian businesspeople Businesspeople from Melbourne Australian people of Scottish descent 1825 births 1898 deaths Australian booksellers 19th-century Scottish businesspeople