1000 Stone Ginger Beers by Ross & Christine Roycroft, 1983, 100pp (ISBN: to be added)

A pictorial price and rarity guide featuring Australian stone ginger beers and demijohns. Absolutely essential for all Aussie bottle collectors. A few copies are still available from Wayne Harris for a very reasonable sum (see links).

Australian Stonies by Douglas Wilson, 1975 (reprinted 1978), 95pp (ISBN: 0959749616)

Label, printer's mark and closure guide to Australian ginger beer bottles, organized by state. Excellent guide for dedicated ginger beer collectors. 

You don't see this book around very often, so grab it when you can, especially the updated 2nd printing.

Bendigo A History in Bottles and Stoneware by Ken Arnold, 1981?, 160pp

Introduces collectors to Bendigo, Sandhurst and Eaglehawk (Victoria) area bottles and companies etc.

Also quite a difficult book to find now.

This is a great book for its age. Its amazing how professional and well produced this book actually is. Lots of color photographs, excellent bottle information and great dig stories. Try and get a copy of this, if you can.

A nice general book on stoneware in Australia including ginger beers and demijohns.

The best reference on Australian Aerated Water and Cordial Factories of the past. Contains heaps of interesting articles and photographs on the different companies, the people that founded them, and the bottles they made.

There was only a very limited print run of these books, each numbered and signed by the author. I have one spare copy for sale $90 inc. postage in AU. & I recommend finding one asap before they become impossible to obtain.

An excellent must-have reference which goes through the history of the marble stoppered bottle. Plenty of good photos with valuations by Ross Roycroft. Also reprinted with a different cover to this (light-blue).

Small, softcover, early book on the many different Aerated Water patent types used in Australia. Contains rarity guide, which is still relevant today almost 30 years later. Contains heaps of excellent photos, some in colour, and provides invaluable insight into the different patented closure and storage techniques. Extremely difficult to obtain now, so if you ever find a copy buy it right away!

Nice little edition which is a general guide to the different types of bottles and their values. Especially good for a new collector, but also helpful for experienced collectors as well.

If you were only going to buy 1 book for your bottle reference collection, take my advice and buy 6. These are easily the BEST price guides that exist on Antique bottles in Australia. Excellent photography & accurate information.

These books are still available from Wayne Harris for a very reasonable sum (see links). They are newer editions which contain more up-to-date pricing information.

             1976 edition on left                1982 edition on right

                  1979 edition on left            1984 edition on right

              1981 edition on left               1985 edition on right

A terrific little guide to Australian Fruit Jars with great photos. Contains a guide to rarity (based on a one, two or three star basis) and explains sizes that the different jars came in, as well as some history. Fairly difficult to obtain now but is still available from the Aussie Bottle Digger.

Contains excellent information on Sydney's aerated water manufacturers from 1830-1930. Includes a listing of companies and some company information, photos of bottles, price guide (outdated) and terrific drawings of the different patents that existed. Also extremely difficult to obtain but you might find it in your public library.

The newest reference that has been published on this hobby. Full colour photographs on every page! An absolute must have for all serious collectors. Order your copy for $35 including postage within Australia from:

          The Australian Bottle & Collectables Review
          C/O Whittlesea P.O.
          WHITTLESEA
          VICTORIA, 3757
          AUSTRALIA

Detailing the lives of Australia's early Pharmacists, in particular the ceramic pot lids they used to store creams and advertise their businesses at the same time. Full of B/W and colour illustrations, separated into the different states. Super rare and quite valuable book, especially the hard cover version. Apparently it was also produced in a special edition of signed/numbered copies but i've never seen one. Recent sales on eBay have been over $100 for the softcover version.

Early Historic & Rare Bottles 26/09/79 (including some Australian bottles) very rare auction catalogue, extremely high quality black and white photographs, 84pp

 - many more to be added soon

By far the best and most comprehensive book written on Australian Jars and the companies that used them. Preserving and storage jars, commonly called 'Fruit Jars' are highly sought after, especially specimens in top condition. Apart from a few common ones, they are generally extremely rare. This book does not intend to give values or a guide to rarity, rather it explains the history and contains heaps of photographs as well. Very difficult book to find these days, but it comes up for sale from time to time.

2 books with a good mix of company histories and bottle information, including heaps of photos and old advertising material. Contains an excellent index which makes things easy to find. Also explains ways to find old bottles and how to clean them. These are fairly common and often available in public libraries for loan. Part 1 comes in soft and hard cover but Part 2 is only available in hard cover.

                  Part 1                                   Part 2  

A very early bottle publication which has some nice black and white pictures and information about many different types of bottles. I believe it also exists with a different coloured cover to the green shown here (brown). Also often available in public libraries for loan.