AustLit

'George Charles Ivan Smith (1915-1995) was, over his lifetime, a successful writer, broadcaster, war correspondent, movie producer, United Nations official, and academic. He was also a sensitive and determined man with a deep and abiding empathy with Richard Mahony and his creator, the Australian-born author, Henry Handel Richardson (pseudonym of Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, 1870-1946). Anecdotes and facts about his involvement in Richardson's literary and personal life may be found in various documents, including Richardson's published correspondence with Mary Kernot, Smith's own BBC broadcasts, Olga Roncoroni's essay in 'Henry Handel Richardson: Some Personal Impressions', and Graeme Powell's article, "Building an Archive: The H. H. Richardson Papers in the National Library of Australia." These disconnected and largely sketchy references do little to tell the story of Smith's unwavering enthusiasm in promoting Richardson and her work in the final years of her life, nor do they explain his determination to preserve many of her manuscripts and other special collection items immediately following her death.' (Publication abstract)

'Sir John Alexander Ferguson's Bibliography of Australia is the fundamental reference for all printed matter relating to Australia between the years 1784 and 1900. The author aimed at nothing less than a comprehensive listing of every published item that fell within its scope. Inevitably though, as Ferguson well knew, there would be additional works and editions found. Volumes II, III and IV of the Bibliography contain addenda, including entries for titles not recorded in earlier volumes. In 1986 the National Library of Australia published a single volume of Addenda 1784-1850 Volumes I to IV, incorporating addenda interspersed through volumes II to IV, with further corrections, notes, and other information, much of which derived from the annotated seven-volume bound set of the publication, found in the Papers of J. A. Ferguson, now in the National Library of Australia. The present note records one further title omitted from the published addenda: a 1791 Belgian imprint in the Mitchell Library, Sydney.' (Publication abstract)