It may well be a fickle business, publishing and selling physical books in a digital age, but Clive Tilsley would not have it any other way.
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And though the Fullers Bookshop may now be considering a time he is not at the helm of the almost century-old business, he shared much of that history in Launceston in Wednesday.
Addressing the National Book Council Tasmania's monthly meeting ahead of the 2020 milestone, Mr Tilsley spoke at length about the work of the business' publishing arm - a mainstay he hopes will not stop any time soon.
"I still think that it's one of those things," he told a packed room at the Launceston Library. "When I get out of Fullers - which I am trying to do because we turn 100 next year and I think it is time that I went - I would still like to see Fullers do the odd publication."
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Many important additions to literature in both the state and beyond have followed the first Fullers publication in the 1930s.
Its titles cover everything from the island's history to detective fiction, from authors spanning Tasmanian Aboriginal elder Dr Patsy Cameron AO to conservationist and geomorphologist Kevin Kiernan.
"That's that really wide collection of things that you can publish if you are in Tasmania," Mr Tilsley said. "And in lots of ways I have done the full gamut."
His time in the world of Tasmanian books began in his teenage years, purchasing Fullers' Hobart store in 1982. In 2014 Mr Tilsley handed over the keys to the Launceston store he opened almost 14 years prior.
"I hope that there is some contribution there [from Fullers] both in literature and in history that people will value in times to come."
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