A few notes on Compton  Australasian Poultry.

 

 Compton's Australasian Book Of Poultry was written in the late 1890’s  to provide an Australian answer to the flood of books which resulted from the Hen Fever period in the USA which spread worldwide. The famous colour books of Tegetmeier and Wright dominated the popular breed books especially with the mass market of subscription making them easier to buy and the premade elegant “cases” sold upon completion of the subscription run. 

In Australia, Compton's,  two books, the Australasian Book of Poultry and Malays and Game Fowl in Australia were produced on a much smaller scale.   They were also sold, as far as I can find, only as complete volumes never as subscription. This resulted in many fewer differences than say Wrights Book of poultry where probably half the sold sets were privately bound and so there were many different bindings.

 

Australasian Poultry Book and its structure.

I have seen some Compton’s in contemporary leather styles which may have been made as presentation copies at new, but mostly the leather copies are later rebinds.

The question is often asked about the different cloth covers on the book. Most I have seen are brown, green, and blue, though I have also seen a red volume, I suspect it was a rebind.

As far as I can find there was only one print run of the book,(see below) though I may be incorrect. The biggest distinctive I can find is the grain of the paper. I have seen about 40 copies over the years mostly brown and green. At one time I suspected that these were separate print runs, bound separately, and so in different cloth. However I have changed my view as all the colours are represented in the books main structural fault. That is the paper grain.

The grain of the paper in books is very important. The grain must run from top to bottom to give the opened page a flex, sometimes called drape. If the grain runs across the page, the page is stiffer. If it’s a paperback is a nuisance as the pages don’t open easily, but then paperback aren’t meant to be around in 100 years. However often the paper supplies of that period were variable and so the temptation to use an available slightly smaller sheet with the wrong grain, which folds ok for the grain in  a small book but when folded for the quarto book means the grain is the wrong way.

short grain running across the page                     

 Long grain running from the top to the bottom. 

 

So what does this mean? Originally I thought the books with the different grain were a separate print run, as I had one green bound correct grain and one brown grain incorrect grain. But as time went on, I have seen significant numbers in all cloth colours. So what is the significance? When the book is new, nothing apart from the wrong grain gives slightly stiffer opening, and the book which needs to be held open to be read. But as the paper ages, the stiffness causes pages to fail, splitting top to bottom usually near the  spine, and to break and fall out, especially if the book is read a lot, not just archived as a collectors piece.

So many were the faulty copies, that I took one of them, rescanned and produced new retypeset copies. This helped fill the shortage of copies and allowed the wrong grain copies to be archived away from further damage while the reading copies were the modern edition.

Unfortunately for me, my copy of Compton’s,  in green cloth, bought in the first collection of my collecting time, was a long grain copy in perfect condition. Someone walked into the shop with a suitcase of books, and it was difficult to say no as it had a lot of the famous titles. ( see the article The Big 7) I still have the receipt, but wouldn’t pay that for them now.  I had paid too much for that first collection, and as a result, needed the cash so I sold  that copy to a collector who won’t sell it back.  But I have several copies archived,  a brown, a blue, a green, all cross grain, and a leather edition long grain (rebound) .

I am not a paper expert, but the feel of the paper is also somewhat different apart from the grain. Its not something I can be sure of, but I suspect the cross grain paper was also of a lower grade paper.

So my conclusion is that the print run was  quite small maybe only hundred, but even before the print was completed the preprint sales were coming in. I suspect it became apparent that the run would be sold out so more paper was ordered and the matching paper not available. But with the print run part completed, the second run was all in the new paper. The binding had more time for the ordering of the cloth, but even then the cloth was different colours. During the binding process, with several stitchers, and binders doing the hand work, the result is some bound one way some bound the other.  It is hard to be sure as I cannot find any records, if someone out there has records from the publisher to help with this I would love to see it. So you could say it was 2 print runs at the same one after another before the binding work.

AJ Compton

A.J has always been a mystery to me. Long ago I started trying to find if the artwork for his works still existed.  He wrote a lot of articles for other books, and newspapers, and at times his artwork has also appeared in other books.  Also a collection of his work was prepared by W J. Plant, who duplicated it along with may other pieces of poultry history. I often thought I would collect and reprint all the articles by Compton in The Australian Poultry Newspaper, but alas time has run away. Perhaps a task for another?  

After much hunting, I contacted a number I had found, and asked for Mr Compton, as I had done may times. The lady on the other end wanted to know why, and when I explained, told me I was too late that he had died some years earlier. She had been his maid, and the house had been emptied and sold. I asked about his possessions particularly the books and artwork. It was all gone. What about family? They had no children. So a dead end. Now I believe it was a canny person on the other end, hoping there might be money in it.

I proceeded to re-typeset and produce Australasian Poultry, hand printed and hand bound and sold a few copies, more for the experience of binding, and the availability of print. Some wanted green , some wanted brown, both types were available, some though there was an important difference.  I was surprised at the requests, but found that at the time breeds of poultry that had not been seen for many years were popping up, and if it was found in Compton’s then it was legitimately here in OZ. but I suspect it was justifying smuggling. Another story for another time.

One day, I had a phone call requesting a copy. My usual reply, yes but I don’t have one bound. It will be a week or two for me to do it. Which colour?  After a brief discussion I ask the name . It is Mr Compton (I shall leave out his first name) ,  his great grandson. But I replied, “he died with no children”. Not true, he had a big family, if I recall 4 or 5 children.  He actually was a travelling shoe salesman. He would head out to the country on the train, and sell shoes while ensuring that any chickens he heard would attract his attention and his in notebook would recorded the types etc etc.

I can image A.J. at the beginning of the week getting ready to leave. “Where to this week” says his wife.  “ Mudgee looks nice this time of the year. See you on the weekend.” But I digress again.  I am starting to feel uncomfortable. Did I infringe the copyright somehow?  But the real reason is, no one in the family has a copy of either of his books. “Well we will soon fix that, I will do another edition, including both.”  I am told “We want to take it to all the family gatherings, as we often talk of his books but no one has seen them”, so a special edition with travel box and some nice leatherwork.  What a delight, and more than enough to justify the work of setup of the edition, which can never be repaid in sales. I also ask the questions about the prints plates, paperwork. It was all in the roof of great uncle XYZ but disappeared after he died. Another dead end. 

Since then I received another call from another Mr Compton wanting another copy.  “ Our branch of the family hasn’t got one so we want one now”.   So a double pleasure.

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I am sure there are more anecdotes , press clipping, quotations, reprints I haven’t seen. If you would like to add to this article (I will acknowledge the contribution) please contact me.

 

But the story would not be complete without a little discussion of the Malays, Gamefowl and Bantams in Australia,  his other work, and the rarer of the two.  I arrived at the conclusion long ago, and I cannot remember upon what evidence, that the print run was only 100. (happy to have a correction here). But  almost 20 years ago I wrote an article calling this the scarcest Australian poultry book. At that time I could only find 3 or 4 copies.  I received a number of calls and located another 4 copies. A rule of collecting printed books (in distinction of manuscripts that is hand written works where than can only be one)  is there is  always another one out there.  My publication of the article and subsequent discussion prompted  another collector to rush a copy into print. (yes if Jim Finger wants to do it there must be some money in it. Don’t I wish.) So a reprint also of 100 copies was produced. This is also an important work to be in many hands.  Later I incorporated it with the Australasian Poultry and made the work the Complete Compton.  The individual print runs mean that I can add to each volume sold any new material so they are all somewhat unique.

And to finish with an extra note,

The rarest Australia Poultry work I believe to be one of my own works, it only sold 2 copies? Just kidding. Watch for any material from Mrs Lance Rawson, who was also known as Wilhemena, or Mina  Rawson,  or Mina Ravenhill. She wrote several books as she was the  "how to survive in the outback" person of the 1870-1900. Her cookery books and newspaper columns answered questions for women a long way from anywhere. However she gave a lecture to a Queensland Animal Acclimatization Society on Poultry sometime I believe in the 1870’s. I believe there were notes printed but I have never located any, and the recorded dates of her publications vary so I am not at all sure of the correctness. Her book Mina’s Cookery and Poultry Book published in 1878 and I cant find a copy. Perhaps a reader might. Any information welcomed and acknowledged (if you want to be acknowledged, otherwise privacy is respected). Later works are in various state libraries, but no first editions I can find.

Any mistakes  in the details presented  are surely mine and the offer is for any of you to assist in correcting me.

Jim Finger.  Latest edit 08-2021.

Citation details

James Finger Personal Corrspondence

Australian Poultry Newspaper Various issues

W J Plant Various works.

Beverley Kingston, 'Rawson, Wilhelmina Frances (Mina) (1851–1933)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rawson-wilhelmina-frances-mina-8163/text14269, published first in hardcopy 1988, accessed online 14 March 2021. This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, (MUP), 1988