About Us
The Paperback Bookshop is an independent, general bookshop established in the mid 1960s here at the top, quiet end of Bourke street. With the idea of making paperback editions of books that weren't generally for sale readily available to Melbourne readers, the original owner set about sourcing stock from trips overseas, chiefly the US, and from local publishers. Paperback editions of exciting contemporary writers of the time such as the Beats, Australian contemporary literature and titles otherwise banned under Australia's strict censorship laws, soon found their way onto the newly built shelves. These very same shelves still hold current editions of some of these staples, alongside decades of classics – and the constant arrival of new publications and new favourites. The Paperback, then and now, is about showcasing good writing that is vital to the times and to readers.