[Angry Penguins #9]. HARRIS, Max and John REED (editors)

Angry Penguins. July 1946 [cover title]

[Melbourne], Printed by the National Press, 1946.

Quarto, 64 pages with 13 illustrations (mainly portraits from photographs, but including reproductions of 4 paintings by Eric Lee-Johnston).

Monochrome pictorial wrappers lightly chipped and sunned on the spine; small light tidemark to the margin of the top corner of the front cover and the first four leaves; minimal signs of age and use; a very good copy.

The editorial notes that, with the end of the war and the easing of certain wartime publishing restrictions from March 1946, hopefully the journal 'will appear at fairly regular quarterly intervals'. However, a certain amount of inevitable disillusionment had settled over the Australian cultural scene, interest in modern painting and literature had waned, and 'some literary journals are feeling the strain of these adverse conditions'. Some journals were finding sales dropping alarmingly, others were being forced off the market. 'At the moment we can luckily claim a rising circulation both here and in America'. Be that as it may, this was the last issue of 'Angry Penguins', and looking at the list of contents, both artistic and literary, it is perhaps hardly surprising.