[8] Mitchell has been credited with drawing Dymock's "attention to the value of old Australian books from the commercial standpoint", a piece of advice which helped the latter "in building up his business".

[2] In 1900 he gave evidence before the Legislative Assembly select committee on the working of the Sydney Free Public Library.

Dymock "accused Anderson of unduly favoring Angus & Robertson as suppliers to the library, and of accepting tenders from his even though they were uncompetitive".

[5] Furthermore, Anderson accused Dymock of recommending "trashy" material to the municipal libraries he supplied, including "slang dictionaries and 'worthless rubbish' by undesirable authors such as Fenimore Cooper, Mayne Reid and Smollett.

In response, Dymocks was reported to have acknowledged that "he had indeed 'gone into a cheaper class of books', and was quite ready to supply 'labouring-class' reading needs as well as those of 'college-bred men'".

[9] Dymock also argued that the Free Public Library should continue to supply itself through English book agents such as Trübner & Co.