Mary Maydwell Martin

Mary Maydwell Martin (1915-1973) was an Australian bookseller.[1][2] In 1945 she founded the Mary Martin Book Shop on Grenfell Street, Adelaide.[1] In 1947 she asked Max Harris to become a partner in the shop, which by then had moved to Alma Chambers, 13 Commercial Place.[1] Harris agreed; he also made a news-sheet which he called Mary's Own Paper, although it contained his own opinions.[1] The shop expanded, and by 1955 it was located at 75 Rundle Street; by 1957 it was in a large part of the first floor of the Da Costa Building, Gawler Place.[1] In 1962 Mary decided to move to India for good, having previously visited there in 1952, 1957, and 1961.[1] Harris became the sole manager of the bookshop, and Mary sold her interests in the firm to him and Yvonne Harris.[1]

After living at Bombay for a time, Mary moved to Bangalore and established an Indian mail-order book business.[1] Her sister Florence managed the finances from Australia.[1] She also sold local arts and crafts to Community Aid Abroad.[1] She hired T. R. Kesavamurthy as a servant, training him to become the manager of her book business.[1] In 1965 she and Kesavamurthy moved to Kotagiri, where she hoped the climate would be good for her asthma.[1] There, in addition to her work with books, she volunteered with the Nilgiris Adivasi Welfare Association.[1] She was appointed the association's honorary treasurer, and wrote its Newsletter.[1]

A dispensary at Balwadi, India, was named after her, and a memorial fund to continue her welfare work was established in Adelaide, Australia.[1]

The Mary Martin chain was sold to Macmillans in the late 1970s.[3] As of 1998 there were four Mary Martin bookshops in Australia, and the Kesavamurthy family ran Mary Martin Booksellers from Coimbatore, India.[1]

Mary was also a foundation member of the South Australian branch of the Contemporary Art Society of Australia, and in 1939 won the Tormore prize for English Literature.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 "Biography - Mary Maydwell Martin - Australian Dictionary of Biography".
  2. ↑ Wilfrid Prest; Kerrie Round; Carol S. Fort (January 2001). Wakefield Companion to South Australian History. Wakefield Press*. p. 338. ISBN 978-1-86254-558-8.
  3. ↑ Samela Harris (2012): A life of books – and Mary Martin's AdelaideNow, 2 September 2012. Accessed 5 February 2014.
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