The Print History Project
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Print History Project  >  1960'sWhitcombe and TombsLambton Quay, Wellington1920sSource copy consulted: Reproduced from Timeframes, Alexander Turnbull Library, Lambton Quay, Wellington 1/2-04593Copyright Lambton Quay, Wellington. Please see Alexander Turnbull Library, Timeframes Conditions of Use for this image. Whitcombe and Tombs was established in 1882 by a merger of the Christchurch-based bookseller George Whitcombe and printer/bookbinder George Tombs. They created a niche in educational publishing, of which the Whitcombe's Story Books series is probably the best-known example. The company grew and diversified, setting up branches in Wellington in tandem with all the major New Zealand centres, adding four offices in Australia and one in London. In Wellington, much of their printing was contracted from government departments and agencies as well as sub-contracted through the Government Printing Office. In 1971, Whitcombe and Tombs merged with the Dunedin-based printing consortium of Coulls Somerville Wilkie to create Whitcoulls, which was then bought out by the British media conglomerate W.H. Smith in 2000. The Wellington retail shop and corporate offices remain in the original building at 312-316 Lambton Quay designed by William Turnbull of Thomas Turnbull and Sons, and completed in 1908. Noel Waite, "Whitcombe & Tombs" in The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998.Ian McLaren, Whitcombe's Story Books: A Trans-Tasman Survey. Melbourne: University of Melbourne Library, 1984 and supplement 1987.

  
 

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1840  -  1880  -  1920  -  1960  -  2000

 

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