At the age of 74,he is relinquishing to his son Joe control of the business he has grown from one outlet in Lygon Street into a chain of eight shops. At the same time,he has been in the vanguard of nurturing new Australian writers,writing,and the country’s vibrant independent publishing scene.
“He is one of the world’s great independent booksellers,” says Text publisher Michael Heyward. “For all of us who have spent a lifetime in books,working with writers,trying to extend the culture and doing something new,we have been really lucky to have him as a partner and a supporter.”
The first Readings – named after owner Ross Reading – opened in Lygon Street in 1969 when Rubbo was stalling in his medical studies at the University of Melbourne. Having sold records in the uni bookshop,Rubbo thought a record shop might work in the same way as a bookshop,and in 1972 opened Professor Longhair down the road from Readings,helped by a loan from his mother.
Next step with two partners was a shop in Hawthorn,half of which was sublet to a bookseller. But Rubbo took over the whole space when his tenant was sprung selling dope to schoolgirls. The allure of selling records waned,however,and when Ross Reading offered him Readings in 1976 he again touched his mother for funds.
It was the right time to get into the book trade. “When I took Readings over,the Whitlam government had put quite a lot of money into the arts. And a lot of the writers who got that sort of support had books coming out and these were published by people that I knew. So it was very exciting.”
When playwright Jack Hibberd asked him in 1977 why there were no Australian books in the shop window,Rubbo rectified the situation by championing Helen Garner’sMonkey Grip at a time when most fiction published still came in from Britain. It was the start of an ongoing commitment to local authors.