Friday, October 2, 2020

New miniature - Gould's Books in Newtown, Sydney

 Well it's been rather a long time between posts, but 2020 has been a kick in the guts for everyone. COVID-19 has meant that I have been home-schooling my daughter for the last six months, and there has been very little time to actually produce my miniatures. But the good news is that I have a new one released into the wild today - Gould's Books in Sydney!


Bob Gould's book store in Newtown, Sydney



A Sydney institution, Bob Gould’s bookshop was part of the city’s life for decades. Gould was a famous anti-Vietnam  activist and bookseller who opened his first bookstore in 1967. The Newtown store was his largest – a labyrinth of secondhand books, videos, magazines, records and ephemera. I have fond memories of spending hours and hours there when I was at uni in the 1990s. If you were searching for a particular title you faced a Herculean task in the chaos, but if you were content to browse and discover whatever came along it was magical. Bob Gould was always behind the desk, always irascible, and always accompanied by cats (a window at the back of the store was left open for the cats to get in and out – that window ledge was the only surface in the entire building not covered with stacks of books).

Originally built in 1889 as a metalworkers, the building was abandoned in the 1980s until opened as Gould’s largest shop. The bookstore closed at this location after Bob Gould’s death in 2011. My miniature captures Gould’s as it looked in its final weeks, during its final sale. There are several retro and suitably left-wing protest posters hidden in the piece, as well as a bird nest for the truly eagle-eyed to spot.  


Video is embedded below, but in case that doesn't work here is the link:
Old book store in miniature - Gould's Books in Newtown, Sydney


Cheers,


Dave