Mary Martin was born in Norwood, South
Australia on 20 July 1915, eldest of four children to progressive
parents. She was educated at Rose Park, in a private school and then at
Girton Proprietary School where she became a prefect. She enrolled as a
part-time student at the University of Adelaide in 1936 where she met
Max Harris, a man who was to figure prominently in her later life.
Whilst at university she was a founding member of the South Australian
branch of the Contemporary Art Society of Australia, spent time with
writers and artists and in 1939 won the Tormore prize for English
literature. She lived an independent life, living in a cottage in the
garden of her parents’ home, and earned some money by selling postcard
reproductions of Old Master paintings as well as teaching, briefly, at
Wilderness School. After eight years of study Mary completed her
honours course in English, but was unable to graduate as she had not
passed Latin I (a requisite for her entry into university in the first
place).
Mary opened the first Mary Martin Bookshop in 1945 in the Brookman
Building in Grenfell Street, selling books, prints and coffee.
When Max Harris returned humiliated from Melbourne after
the Ern Malley affair in 1945, Mary asked him to join her in running
the shop. Max and Mary had been close friends throughout their
university days and they complemented each other in the partnership. In
1947 Mary proposed a partnership in the bookshop with Max, which, by
that stage, had moved to Alma Chambers near the Stock Exchange. For
many years the shop remained more of an intellectual meeting place than
a competitive business; and as it grew, it developed a warm, casual
sense of fratenity. Its atmosphere was one of erudition and cameraderie
- filled with conversation, coffee, cigarette smoke and laughter. It
was a clutter of books and periodicals, specialising in the avant
garde, and sustained an impressive range of fine arts books and prints.
Guiding people to the sort of reading which would nourish them
individually was one of the shop's specialities, and one of Max's
extraordinary talents. Australia is full of people who say their lives,
attitudes and even their careers were influenced by Mary and Max's
guidance in their early reading. Mary and Max remained a famous
partnership for many years.
Mary's Own Paper, or MOP, the shop news-sheet, was developed by Max as
an outlet for his opinions. It was typed, duplicated and stapled by
hand and sent to subscribers or handed out at the front counter. It
soon became cult reading filled, as it was, with boldly topical
commentary and satire as well as theatre, visual arts and literary
reviews; and was dotted with eccentric illustrations by Max. Mary's Own
Paper and later the Mary Martin's Booklists were a lifeline to country
residents of the State and, over time, to much of the outback of
Australia and even Papua New Guinea. As a result Mary Martin's had a
thriving postal order business.
The bookshop moved house a number of times: to 75 Rundle Street in 1955
and then in 1957 to its longest residence on the first floor of the Da
Costa Building in Gawler Place.
In the early 1950’s Mary travelled numerous times to India returning
with a marvellous selection of Indian artefacts - from ancient bronzes
to fabrics. It was the first shop in Adelaide to be marketing such
exotica and it continued, over the years, to introduce the city to all
kinds of interesting imports - Harris and Twinings teas, South American
and Balinese ethnographica and antiquities from the ancient
civilisations.
While Mary turned her life more and more towards India, finally moving
there in 1962, Max was left to manage to shop until, in 1963, Mary sold
her her share of the business to Max and his wife, Yvonne Harris, with
payments to be made in instalments over the next few years. Max
continued to internationalise and revolutionise the business. He was a
leading fighter against the then rigorous censorship laws of Australia
and was a champion of Australian book publishing, seeking always to
find a way to make books cheaper and more accessible to the Australian
reader. He introduced remainder sales and began travelling assiduously
to grab the first and best of the remainder market in Britain and the
US. Max's phenomenal knowledge of books and understanding of the market
took the business to a zenith wherein branches were being opened in
other cities. But Max could usually be found behind his desk in
Adelaide, still engaging in droll ripostes with customers. When he was
not involved in sales, he was always writing - as weekly columnist for
The Australian and other assorted publications over the years; and his
late works of poetry were published posthumously as The Angry Penguin.
Eventually Macmillan Publishing bought the business, keeping Max as a
publishing advisor, and developed a franchise but not long after the
franchise collapsed with the remaining shops becoming independent once
again. Hence Mary Martin Bookshops in Melbourne which are not
associated with the original, Adelaide operation.
Mary Martin Bookshop has changed hands many times since Max left, but
his and Mary's spirit have always remained a presence in the business -
and never more so than now with its spirited proprietors, Justin and
Sarita Chadwick, who have brought back to the shop the character with
which it began.
