Cole’s Book Arcade was once a household name in Melbourne but is now a historical relic. But what made it special? Why was it so well-loved?
If you were to take a wander around Melbourne in the late 19th century, you’d likely find yourself at the doors of a three-story bookshop eventually. But this bookshop was unlike any store you might walk around today. There were no loyalty cards, no shopping baskets.
There were, however, monkeys. And parrots. And even a live band. The shop, of course, was Cole’s Book Arcade. Passers-by would have spotted it by its rainbow sign, or would have heard of its famous owner: Edward William Cole.
Who Was Edward William Cole?
Edward Cole was originally born in Kent, England in 1832. When he was young, he lost his father, and at 18, he left home. Originally, Cole headed to London in the hopes of making money. When that didn’t exactly pan out, he ended up in South Africa, working as a farmer near Cape Town.
He soon grew bored of South Africa too, and in 1851, just as the gold rush drew people to Australia, he packed up and set off. Following thousands of others, Cole moved to Melbourne, where gold had just been found.
He arrived in Australia in 1853 and found work in the goldfields near Bathurst. As with many men, however, the reality of the harsh working conditions prospectors were subjected to quickly put him off. Instead, he decided to sell to the prospectors, and this was the first step toward the career that would take over the rest of his life.
By the 1860s, he returned to Melbourne with enough money to start a pie stand. In 1865, he sold the stand and bought a stall at the Eastern Markets, where he sold second-hand books. He did his best to find unique and hard-to-find titles, which quickly made him very popular. So much so that he eventually took over the whole of the Eastern Market, subletting the stalls to others.
In 1873, he leased a new store on Bourke Street. From the very get-go, he had big plans for the shop. It was never intended to be just a bookstore. Cole wanted a treasure trove, ‘the prettiest sight in Melbourne’, he called it.
Ten years later, he expanded, taking over a larger store. Then again in 1896, he started to acquire buildings out the back of his store. He marketed the store as ‘the world’s biggest bookstore’.
What Exactly Could You Find Within Cole’s Book Arcade?
But what could guests find at the ‘world’s biggest bookstore’? Well, the answer is: a lot of things. First and foremost, Cole’s Arcade held over 1 million books. There was a bridge connecting some of the buildings so that customers did not need to leave the store to get from one part to another.
In the other buildings, Cole set up a toy store, an art gallery, and even a professional printing shop.
The developments only continued the longer that Cole had the store. A clockwork statue was added to the entrance that featured two mechanical boys displaying various messages like ‘read’ and ‘eat well’. He didn’t stop there, either.
Next on the list of wonderful additions was a garden of exotic plants and a display of monkeys. A mirror hall was then added for children, and, not long after, a band was hired. Well, multiple bands. A different one for each afternoon.
By its peak, Cole’s Book Arcade had toys, music boxes, comics, posters, souvenirs, and everything else pretty much everywhere you looked. It quickly became the city’s most famous store and a fundamental tourist spot.
Edward William Cole: The Author
Selling books, owning monkeys, and being famous city-wide wasn’t enough for Edward William Cole, and in the 1870s, he started publishing books, too. He wrote Cole’s Funny Picture Book, Cole’s Fun Doctor, Cole’s Intellect Sharpener, and The Thousand Best Poems in the World. Several of these can be found in the Melbourne Museum.
He also published a number of pamphlets on religion and race politics!
What Happened to Cole’s Book Arcade?
In 1875, during the peak of the store, Edward William Cole took out an ad in the local newspaper looking for a wife. A month after posting, he married Eliza Frances Jordan, who he described as being ‘the only serious applicant’.
Together, the two of them ran the store until Eliza’s death in 1911. Shortly after her passing, Edward retired to the country, and he then passed away in 1918.
The store was then passed into the hands of his business associates. Unfortunately, the trustees lacked the magic and passion that Cole had, and the brilliant profits he had seen quickly dwindled. By the 1920s, the arcade was in real trouble.
So the associates decided to refocus on the core of the business: bookselling. They re-divided the building and the other parts of the business were shut down. But this didn’t slow down the losses — suddenly there was nothing special about Cole’s Book Arcade.
Sadly, in 1929, the main building was sold. A huge crowd turned out for the store’s last day, saying goodbye to what had been a staple of their city.
Now, in the present day, the building is home to David Jones. The magic of Cole’s Arcade isn’t gone, however. The Melbourne Museum has over 80 items in its Cole’s Book Arcade Collection.
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Migz
Millie Ramm
Millie has been writing since she was a child, and has spent more time with her nose in books than anywhere else. She has been ghostwriting novels and editing for the past few years, and when not working she is curled up with her cats, looking for her next read.
