Margaret Woodhouse
Margaret Joan Woodhouse | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date Waverley, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | July 12, 1990 (aged 62) Gordon, Australia |
| Occupation(s) | Librarian, antiquarian bookseller |
| Known for | Australian Book Auction Records |
Margaret Joan Woodhouse (18 August 1927 – 12 July 1990) was a distinguished Australian librarian and antiquarian bookseller who specialized in second-hand and rare books related to Australian and Pacific subjects. She is noted for producing five editions of the Australian Book Auction Records.
Life
Born in 1927 in Waverley, New South Wales, Woodhouse was the daughter of English immigrants Agnes Gertrude (née Sargent) and Albert Edward Barwell. She received her education at Mount St Marys College and Convent before beginning her professional journey as an assistant at the State Library of New South Wales, where she eventually earned her librarian qualifications. In 1959, she left the library following her marriage to fellow librarian Frank Lewis Woodhouse.
In 1962, Woodhouse purchased an established business and redirected its focus toward second-hand book sales. By 1964, she had moved her enterprise to History House on Young Street, Sydney—the initial headquarters of the Royal Australian Historical Society—where she concentrated on antiquarian books about Australia and the Pacific region. This location was secured through the efforts of Sir John Alexander Ferguson, the society's bibliophile president and one of her clients, alongside prominent collectors such as Geoffrey Ingleton and Walter Stone.
From 1971 until 1979, Woodhouse released five editions of Australian Book Auction Records, which detailed auction results for rare book sales.
Following the Royal Australian Historical Society's relocation to a new History House at 133 Macquarie Street in 1971, Woodhouse’s bookshop also moved there and remained until 1983, after which it operated from various sites closer to her residence.
Death and legacy
Woodhouse passed away in 1990 in Gordon. Her auction record publications were subsequently revised and reissued during the 1980s by Jill Burdon, with the final edition compiled by Fiona Kells in 2006. In the year following her death, Christies conducted an auction of her personal collection, which comprised over 500 volumes.