Currently on exhibition in the Gilbert Gallery in The Link
Five Panels:
A celebration of the Hamilton and Auckland Paul’s Book Arcade shops,
William and Isabella Paul and their families,
and Blackwood and Janet Paul’s Publishing
Paul’s Book Arcade was an iconic bookshop founded in Victoria Street, Hamilton, by William H Paul in 1901. Until 1925 when William set up his shop at 211 Victoria Street, he had had three successive locations due to various building redevelopments in the growing township. William’s son, Blackwood, took over the business in 1933. Blackwood was joined in it by his wife Janet Wilkinson in 1945, until his early death in 1965. Blackwood and Janet established an Auckland branch shop in 1955. The main Hamilton shop was redesigned by modernist Austrian architect Ernst Plischke, with work carried out in 1948-50. He also subsequently redesigned the Auckland shop. The Dunedin-based University Book Shop Ltd took over the retail businesses in 1972 and operated them as Paul’s University Book Shop, sometimes branded as Paul’s Book Shop. The Hamilton Victoria Street shop closed in 1983.
Blackwood and Janet also ran a notable, pioneering, publishing business which they founded in 1945; it operated until 1968 when it was sold to Longmans and became Longman Paul. Significantly, by 1968 about 275 titles had been published, mostly works by New Zealand authors.
We have five panels produced for exhibition in the Gilbert Gallery at the time of the 125th anniversary celebration of Paul’s Book Arcade, held in The Link on 7 March 2026. Minimal source citations have been provided on the panels. This exhibition runs through to the end of April.
Panels displayed from left end to right end of the gallery:
PANEL ONE:……..William Paul
PANEL TWO:…….Presbyterian Connections
PANEL THREE:…Blackwood and Janet Paul
PANEL FOUR:…..Bookselling
PANEL FIVE:……..Publishing
William and his wife Isabella were stalwarts in our church, and St Andrew’s tennis club played on their courts on River Road.
