The National Book Collecting Prize for Young Australian Collectors
Presenting the Young Australian Book Collector for 2026
Are you a budding book collector? The National Book Collecting Prize for young Australian collectors to the age of 35 is an annual prize awarded for an outstanding book collection conceived of and built by a young Australian collector. Launched in Queensland in 2020 by Archives Fine Books, in 2023 it became a national competition. Learn more about the prize from its founder Dawn Albinger and hear from this year’s winner Michael Alexandratos about his collection of Greek Weird Books. We’re also delighted to welcome back Nadeem Toodayan with Broodings of Brisbane Bibliophile, Part II. He will share how his collection of Osleriana, medical biographies, and other historical medical publications has continued to take shape since winning the prize in 2024.
Hosted by Dawn Albinger, Archives Fine BooksHeld in the First Floor Meeting Room, East Melbourne Library.
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From a Townsville Pub to Sydney’s Wentworth Hotel
An exploration of the life and cookery books of Federation hotelier and cookery book author, Mrs Hannah Maclurcan
A popular and important Federation cookery book author, Hannah Maclurcan was a highly successful Australian hotelier and businesswoman. The event will explore her often overlooked contributions to Federation cookery with several tastes from her popular cookery book, Mrs Maclurcan’s Cookery Book: a Collection of Practical Recipes Specially Suitable for Australia, which ran to a number of editions.
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