Printers, Publishers,   &c.

BRAITHWAITE, JOSEPH

GIVEN, ANDREW

HORSBURGH, JAMES,

SWAN AND CO. (John Swan and James Swan),

BRAITHWAITE, JOSEPH. Wholesale and Retail Bookseller, Stationer and Fancy Goods Dealer, Braithwaite’s Book Arcade, 38 Princes Street, Dunedin; Private residence, Dallon Bank, York Place. Mr. Braithwaite was born in England in 1848. and belongs to a very old English family. He left the Old Country with his parents for Melbourne in 1852, the voyage being saddened by the death of his mother at sea. He was educated at Colonel Templeton’s school, Collingwood, and. was termed the “aptest boy in the school.” He arrived in Dunedin in 1860, and for a short time attended the school conducted by Mr. Livingstone in n building that then existed where Messrs. Sargood, Son and Ewen’s premises now stand in High street. The death of his father at this period left him a lad of fifteen to fight the world alone. He started however, in business as a bookseller in a shop about 12 feet by 12, in Parley’s Arcade, then the only convenient spot in Dunedin where people could congregate and gossip and purchase their requirements. The busi­ness grew apace and necessitated removal to larger premises at the corner of the Arcade and High street, where Mr. Braithwaite re­mained for fully twenty years, when the transfer to Princes street was made. Mr. Braithwaite’s business expanded with the growth of the city and “Braithwnite’s Book Arcade” is recognised as one of the largest and most successful of its kind in the southern hemisphere. In newspaper con­troversies from time to time, Mr. Braith­waite has displayed a clear grasp of polemic and scientific questions, showing the intel­lectual value of his early tuition and long connection with standard and current literature.

GIVEN, ANDREW, Paper Merchant, Wholesale Stationer, and Printer’s Furnisher and Broker, Manse Street, Dunedin. Telephone, 719. Bankers, Union Bank of Australia. Private residence, Maitland Street. Branches, 11 Brandon Street, Wellington, and Fort Street, Auckland. The proprietor of this large and extensive business was born in 1848 in Edinburgh, where ho was educated at the Hamilton Place Private Academy. On the completion of his scholastic course he entered a legal office in Leith, but after a short time became-apprenticed to the well-known firm of Messrs. Cowan and Co. (now Alexander Cowan and Sons, Ltd.), paper makers, of his native city. Five years later, when only-nineteen years of age, and before the completion of his term. Mr. Given commenced to travel for the house. In 1873 he visited the Vienna Exhibition, also travelling in Germany and Austria, and doing business in London. He \vas appointed commercial manager of Messrs. Cowan’s principal Edinburgh warehouse in 1875, at the same time making occasional business trips. After filling this important and responsible position for a few years, with complete satisfaction to his employers. Mr. Given was transferred to New South Wales to take charge of the Australasian business of the firm in their Sydney warehouse. When the direct steamers commenced to make regular trips to New Zealand, it was deemed advisable to establish an office in the Colony, and Mr. Given was sent to open the branch. From 1884 to 1890 he was in charge of the com­pany’s business in the Colony, and left the firm after twenty-seven years of faithful service to open out on his own account. The business thus established has developed with surprising rapidity, and now extends throughout the Colony. As a dealer in paper Mr. Given is known to be a very large im­porter, possibly the largest in the Colony. While his shipments include all descriptions of paper, he makes a specialty, amongst other lines, of “news” paper, in which his turnover is truly enormous, his contracts extending to a large proportion of the New Zealand journals. Not only does Mr. Given supply paper, but type, machinery, and every requisite required in the newspaper, station­ery, and printing trade. His stocks are so large, too, that he is in a position to completely equip, at short notice, the largest newspaper office in the Colony. Mr. Given is agent in New Zealand for Messrs. W. H. Parsons and Co. and the Whiting Paper Company, of New York, and for other leading manufacturers. He represents Messrs. A. B. Fleming and Co., of Edinburgh and London, manufacturers of printing inks, and is also sole agent in the Colony for the Caligraph Typewriters and sundries, manu­factured by the United Typewriters’ Association of America. Mr. Given’s trade is steadily increasing in New Zealand, and his business is being extended in Australia—in fact, it has already been demonstrated that New Zealand can as readily supply Australia as the latter can supply this colony. Considerable developments in respect to the trade with the sister colonies may be looked for at no distant date. Mr. Given’s Dunedin premises consist of the basement and cellar of the large and substantial building in Manse Street, so long used by Messrs. Brown. Ewing and Co. as their wholesale warehouse. The public and private offices are in front, the rest of the premises being utilised for storing, receiving, and packing the vast stocks which are always being handled. The energetic proprietor makes periodical trips over New Zealand in the interests of his business, which has already become firmly established in the Colony. In 1883 Mr. Given was married to the youngest daughter of the late Mr. John Moncrief Robertson, Solicitor to the Supreme Courts of Scotland, Edinburgh.

HORSBURGH, JAMES, J.P., Bookseller and Stationer, 07 George Street, Dunedin: Telephone 328; Bankers: National Bank of New Zealand, Ltd.; Private residence: Arawa House, St. Clair. This extensive book­selling and stationery business was estab­lished by Mr. Horsburgh in 1879. It is con­ducted in a large double-front warehouse, built of brick and two stories in height. The premises have been very much enlarged and completely renovated. A very large stock of every description of literature and sta­tionery is always on band, the special fea­ture of the business being works of an edu­cational character. Mr. Horsburgh supplies largely to the public schools. As an importer he has weekly shipments, the latest books being promptly received in the Colony through Messrs. Samson, Low, Marston and Co., his London agents. Mr. Horsburgh was born in Edinburgh in 1851, and was appren­ticed to the wholesale stationery business in his native city. In 1875, he came out to the Colony of New South Wales to take the management of a large paper mill, and after three and a half years crossed the. Tasman Sea to Dunedin and established the above business. During his residence in Dunedin he has been always ready to assist any movement for the public good of Otago. For six or seven years he was a member of the Mornington borough council, and occupied the mayoral chair for one year. In 1896, he was elected a member of the Dunedin licensing committee, on which he still holds a seat; for many years he was chairman of the Mornington school com­mittee, and took a prominent part in pro­moting the erection of the new school pre­mises in that suburb. Mr. Horsburgh has taken a keen interest in the establishment of the Dunedin retailers’ association, of which he is a vice-president.

SWAN AND CO. (John Swan and James Swan), Engravers, Die-sinkers, and Engi­neers, Hath Street, Dunedin; Telephone 892; Bankers: Bank of New Zealand. The pre­sent firm was established in 1889 at the above address, where they carry on one of the leading die-sinking and engraving estab­lishments in the South Island. Their busi­ness also extends to the North Island, thus enhancing the success which has attended their very ‘excellent handicraft. The firm are also the inventors and makers of the Swanholm Gas and Oil engine (Vide “Otago Daily Times,” 8^th October, 1897.) Mr. John Swan, the senior partner, who was born in Dunedin in 1869, is the third son of the late Mr. Robert Swan, and was educated at Albany Street school. He was apprenticed to Sir. S. Heading, formerly proprietor of the establishment, and after completing his term, became part proprietor along with his brother, Mr. James Swan. Messrs. Swan have been associated with the Dunedin Amateur boating club, of which the late Mr. Swan was one of the vice-presidents. Mr. J. Swan is a comic amateur vocalist of great  ability,  and  his  talents  are  much appreciated by Dunedin audiences.

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Last modified: 11/15/07