Sydney basketweaver David Wiley was notorious for reciting poetry to customers at his store in Park Street. This photograph was one of two praised in the Sydney Morning Herald. In both views, the well-known figure of Mr Wiley appears, together with some of the members of his family, surrounded by every variety of article in his particular line, whether for use or ornament.

To produce a large outdoor photograph like this, without the ghostly figure of a passer-by walking through the frame, required the skill and authority of a movie director, as exposures were probably 10 seconds or more.