George Robertson

George Robertson was born in Essex, England in 1860 and emigrated to New Zealand in 1879, and then to Sydney in 1882. He started work in the Sydney branch of the Melbourne publisher and bookseller George Robertson. While working there he met David Mackenzie Angus and together they formed the Australian publishing house Angus & Robertson in 1886.

Angus died in 1901 and the firm continued under the partnership of Robertson, Frederick Victor Wymark and Richard Thomson. The publishing house became a public company in 1907.

Over the ensuing years, Angus & Robertson became synonymous with the publishing of Australian fiction and poetry. Besides C.J. Dennis, George Robertson published such authors as Henry Lawson, Mary Gilmore, Miles Franklin, Steele Rudd and many others.

Of special interest is a selection of George Robertson's correspondence titled Dear Robertson: Letters to an Australian Publisher.