Born in Somerset in 1847, Edward Petherick was the eldest son of well-known Collingwood identity Peter Petherick who was a hotelkeeper, rate collector and councillor. Edward was to become a noted bibliographer and the foremost authority on Australiana; he eventually transferred his extensive personal book collection to the Federal government in return for an annuity and the position of archivist. He is also known as a founding member of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

Peter Petherick was a postmaster and bookseller in Burnham, Somerset. He arrived with his wife Ann Press, and their five eldest children, in Melbourne in March 1853, bringing a stock of 400 books. Young Edward could already read by the time of the family’s arrival, and was soon enrolled at Alfred Brunton's School in Fitzroy which he attended until 1860. His father was the Collingwood rate collector from 1856 to 1860 and Edward assisted him in this work while studying part-time. Edward attended the Oxford Street Congregational Church with his family from August 1853 and at the age of 14 became secretary to the Sunday School. On 11 August 1862 he joined the bookselling and stationery firm of George Robertson (in later years to become Robertson and Mullens and then Angus and Robertson). Robertson was impressed by Edward's well-developed book knowledge and enthusiastic application to his duties and in 1870 sent him to England to manage the London office. In 1887 Petherick set up in business for himself in London, trading under the name of the Colonial Booksellers’ Agency. For a time, the business thrived, with bookshops also in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. Trading as E. A. Petherick and Company, the firm also published books. In 1890 the West Melbourne shop was transferred to a five storey warehouse at 380-382 Bourke Street and was conducted with the assistance of three of his brothers.

When Petherick went bankrupt in 1894, much of his Melbourne book stock was acquired by E. W. Cole who sold them off at his renowned Book Arcade. By this time Petherick had already gained acclaim as a bibliographer and had begun collecting books to assist with his long-term project of creating a bibliography of Australiana. In the following years, while making a living as a bibliographer and cataloguer in England, he spent considerable effort in trying to find an Australian home for his collection and a modest position for himself as curator. Accompanied by his wife, he finally returned to Melbourne in 1908 and was able to negotiate for the collection to be acquired by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library (later the National Library).

Despite living for so much of his adult life abroad, Petherick’s links to Australia and Collingwood remained strong. He was a founding member of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and at the first meeting in 1909 he drew on memories of his early life to give a paper on Collingwood in the 1850s and 1860s, published in the first (1911) edition of the Victorian Historical Magazine. When attending a celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of the Oxford Street Congregational Church in 1913, he stated that he still preferred it to any other place of worship in Melbourne.

At the time of his death in 1917 Petherick was living at 254 Albert Street East Melbourne with his sister Constance, his wife having pre-deceased him. His last years had not been entirely happy as he was disappointed in the lack of recognition given him for his work, and was at odds with the Commonwealth Librarian. However, he was appointed a C.M.G. (Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George) and nowadays is recognised in the naming of the Petherick Reading Room at the National Library of Australia. This provides facilities and privileges for a select group of readers who are undertaking advanced research and require intensive access to the National Library’s collections.

The Argus; Fitzroy City Press; Mercury and Weekly Courier; The Petherick Collection Act 1911; Victorian Historical Magazine 1924 vol. 10, no. 38; Victorian Historical Magazine 1911, vol. 1, no. 1; Victroian Histrorcal Journal 1999 vol. 70, no. 2, p. 109.

ADB Edward Petherick
National Library Petherick Collection
 

NLA photo