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FitzGerald, Robert D. (Robert David), 1902-1987.
Heemskerck Shoals / written by Robert D. FitzGerald; and decorated by a map and fifteen designs after drawings done by Geoffrey C. Ingleton. (Fern Tree Gully Lower, Vic. : Mountainside Press, 1949)

This book was hand-printed by John T. Kirtley at his Mountainside Press at Ferntree Gully near Melbourne. R. D. Fitzgerald was already an established poet; Heemskerck Shoals was his fourth book. The title poem is in the genre of works in the epic-style on figures of early Australian discovery and exploration. In this case, Abel Tasman is the subject. Other examples in this line include Slessor’s poem on Captain Cook, and McAuley’s on De Quiros.

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Duke, Jas H. 1939-1992.
Dada kampfen um leben und tod [Dada fight for life and death] : a prose poem / by Jas H. Duke. (Katoomba, N.S.W. : Wayzgoose Press, 1996)

Jas. Duke was a Melbourne performance poet. This book comes with a biographical introduction by fellow poet, Pi O, "Jas H. Duke, an appreciation of Australia’s first Dadaist". In the late 1960s, Duke went to London and America and sought out the remaining Dadaists. He was mainly influenced by sound poetry, and the scat vocals of Jazz. He wrote about this part of his life in Destiny Wood, a novel published in Melbourne in 1974. Pi O first met him at a poetry reading organised by Chris Mann at La Mama in 1973.

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Bolton, Ken. 1949-

The terrific days of summer / Ken Bolton ; [conceived & designed by Mike Hudson ; handset by Jadwiga Jarvis]: (Katoomba, NSW : Wayzgooze Press, 1998)

Ken Bolton is a Sydney poet. He edited the poetry magazine, Magic Sam and currently edits Otis Rush, another poetry magazine. As well as publishing over a dozen volumes of poetry from 1977 to the present, he has also published, with his fellow-poet, John Jenkins, a verse-novel, The Ferrara Poems (1989).

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Slessor, Kenneth, 1901-1971.

The sea poems of Kenneth Slessor / wood-engravings by Mike Hudson, introduction by Dennis Haskell. (Canberra : Officina Brindabella, 1990)

This is a selection of Slessor’s poems. It includes what are perhaps his two best works, "Five Bells" and "Beach Burial".

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Ryrie, John.

Trees, ladders / [woodcuts by John Ryrie ; poems by Alex Selenitsch ; box by Hamish Hill] (Melbourne : Hybrid Production, 1995)

John Ryrie is a Melbourne poet and artist. This is his major publication. Each copy is presented in its own slip-case made from different Australian timbers.

Alex Selenitsch is a Melbourne architect and poet who lives in Clifton Hill. He has been involved in several artist’s books, including Ruth Cowen’s Real estates of the heart.

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Adamson, Bartlett, 1884-1951.

These beautiful women / by Bartlett Adamson ; decorations by Roy Hodgkinson. (Sydney : Sydneysider Co., [1932])

Bartlett Adamson was a journalist on Smith’s Weekly. He wrote romantic poetry with a strong sexual flavour. This volume includes a manuscript poem, "Low doings in high life" signed by Adamson, which would probably not be acceptable for publication even today. These beautiful women with its art deco cover and text illustrations of nudes in a fin-de-siecle style is unusual for an Australian book.

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White, Patrick, 1912-1990.

The ploughman : and other poems / by Patrick White; illustrations by L. Roy Davies. (Sydney : Beacon Press, 1935)

Before he published his first novel, Happy Valley, in 1939, Patrick White published two volumes of verse. The first, Thirteen poems, published in 1929 or 1930 survives in only two copies, one in the Mitchell Library, and one in the Fisher Library. The second, The ploughman is more common, but still a very rare book. As with Happy Valley, his first novel, White would never allow any of these early works to be reprinted. He is rumoured to have bought copies and destroyed them.

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Dutton, Geoffrey, 1922-1998

Night flight and sunrise / by Geoffrey Dutton; introductory statements by Max Harris. (Melbourne : Reed & Harris, 1944 (Adelaide : Hassell Press)

Geoffrey Dutton served in the RAAF as a flight-lieutenant. His poetry is modernist in style, and he published in the avant-garde Australian periodicals, Angry Penguins and A Comment. The book on display, with its Sidney Nolan cover design, and introduction by Max Harris, was published by Reed and Harris. John and Sunday Reed were the leading lights in the Heide school of art and literature in Melbourne at the time.

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Malley, Ern.

The darkening ecliptic / by Ern Malley. (Melbourne : Reed & Harris, 1944) Illustration by Sidney Nolan. Introduction by Max Harris.

The most famous, or notorious, literary incident form the 1940s was the "Ern Malley hoax". The poets, Harold Stewart and James McAuley, wrote a series of deliberately nonsensical poems in the modern, free-verse style. To complete the ruse, they constructed a persona, Ern Malley, a supposed working-class author who died young, leaving a bundle of manuscripts. They tricked Max Harris into publishing the spurious works in a special number of his magazine, Angry Penguins, (Autumn 1944).

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Kershaw, Alister, 1921-1995.

Excellent stranger / by Alister Kershaw ; with preface by A.R. Chisholm. (Melbourne : Reed & Harris, 1944) (Adelaide : The Hassell Press)

Alister Kershaw was another of the writers from the Melbourne avant-garde. A friend of artists such as Adrian Lawlor, and a frequenter of Heide. He wrote in a cosmopolitan style which was well received by Max Harris and the Reeds.

Excellent stranger was his second book of verse. It includes some war poetry, for example, "Bomber Pilot: presumed dead".

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Forbes, John, 1950-1998.

On the beach / [by] John Forbes. (Sydney : Sea Cruise Books, 1977)

John Forbes won the Poetry Society of Australia award in 1972 for his sequence, "Four Heads & how to do them" published in New Poetry. He was born and died in Melbourne, but spent much of his writing career in Sydney.