The pieces are arranged by subject into twenty different chapters covering such areas as ‘The Role of the Editor’, ‘Authors on Editors’, ‘The Gender Agenda’ and ‘The Business of Publishing’. Within these you will find many of the past and present stars of the Victorian publishing and literary firmaments, including Helen Garner, Nick Hudson, Hilary McPhee, Robert Sessions, Brian Johns and Helen Daniel. However, and this is the biggest drawback of this collection, you won’t hear from these people directly. What the society’s newsletter usually included (except in a few cases) were not these people’s words but a report on their talk by someone at the meeting. For the reader, it’s a bit like being last in line in a game of Chinese whispers.

There is some useful information, much of it historical, on the publishing industry; some humour, including John Bangsund’s exegesis of Murphy’s Law (think Murphy’s Law for copy editors); and some insightful nuggets from writers and editors on their respective roles. Gerald Murnane, for example, considers the ideal editor as ‘a father, a mother, a carer and a psychiatrist’. Overall, however, this collection requires the reader to trawl through much paraphrased material to emerge with a few pearls.