Being Bold: From Brest to Brunswick and Beyond
Australian History Local History Biography & Memoir Labour Movement Post-war Migration Theatre & Literary Memoir Community Radio Grassroots Storytelling
Sam Webb’s first-edition hardcover Being Bold: From Brest to Brunswick and Beyond is the lively, boots-and-all memoir that has become a cult favourite among readers who want their Australian stories straight from the source. Born in 1920s France to a Breton mother, Webb grew up between war-torn Europe and the migrant ships that carried him to post-war Melbourne. From the moment he steps onto the docks at Station Pier, the book crackles with detail: the smell of Brunswick’s textile mills, the rough-and-tumble of the local Labour movement, the birth of community radio, and the backstage gossip of Melbourne’s theatre and literary scenes. It is a first-person window onto 70 years of Australian social history, told by a man who helped shape the culture he was discovering.
What makes this copy special is condition: a pristine 2015 first printing, still in its unclipped dust jacket, with pages so fresh they feel unread. Collectors hunting for modern Australian first editions know that small-press memoirs like this rarely survive in “like new” shape—most were read, passed around, and lost in suburban moves. The book’s sewn hardcover and thick archival paper mean it will stand up to repeated reading or long-term display, while the jacket’s bold Brunswick-tram artwork keeps it visually striking on a shelf.
For buyers, Being Bold is more than nostalgia; it is a masterclass in grassroots storytelling. Webb’s voice is warm, self-deprecating, and packed with humour—whether he is smuggling copies of The Phantom into 1940s boarding houses or fronting up to the 3CR radio microphone to debate capital-punishment laws. Teachers use the chapters on migrant assimilation for VCE English local-history modules, and family historians love the indexed references to inner-Melbourne streets, factories, and pubs that no longer exist. If you want a memoir that reads like a coffee with a witty old mate—and a first edition that will hold its value—this copy delivers both the story and the shelf presence.
Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.
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