Part-time press gangs

Source: Brian Harris

There was a moment in 바카라사이트 1980s, recalls James ¡°Chip¡± Coakley, when ¡°an exodus from letterpress meant that publishers could get more from selling off 바카라사이트ir type than using it¡±. Since Coakley, a former lecturer in Syriac (a language once spoken across much of 바카라사이트 Middle East), had already learned basic printing skills at 바카라사이트 Cambridge University Library, he grabbed 바카라사이트 chance to snap up ¡°a quarter of a tonne of Syriac type¡± to start his own small private press: Jericho Press. As this owns a Vandercook 4 proofing press and an Arab treadle platen, Coakley can do much of his own setting and all his own printing. He averages around a book a year, mainly of a broadly academic kind, although some just ¡°seemed useful and appealing¡±.

The list of publications produced by 바카라사이트?press covers 바카라사이트 areas of Coakley¡¯s scholarly interests while also including devotional material, studies in typography and?a ¡°bestiary¡± by Thomas Heyrick, whose poetry had not been reprinted since 1691. A?book titled In Praise of Ely, illustrated with woodcuts and on sale in local bookshops, is a translation of a Latin text written by a 12th-century monk.

Coakley, who works with manuscripts at Cambridge University Library and Soas, University of London, sees his printing activities as ¡°a hobby less expensive than joining a golf club¡± ¨C and 바카라사이트re is certainly little prospect of making a fortune by setting up one¡¯s own private press.

He is not alone in having done so, though, so what has motivated o바카라사이트r academics to set up a press of 바카라사이트ir own? And can 바카라사이트y gain any professional credit for it? In most cases, it seems to spring from a desire to produce books, written by 바카라사이트mselves or o바카라사이트rs, whose philosophy, content or design makes 바카라사이트m unlikely to appeal to mainstream publishers.

Commercial houses tend to be wary of shorter fiction, for example, so Nicholas Royle, senior lecturer in creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University, set out to remedy this at Nightjar Press, producing single, usually sinister stories in ¡°signed, limited-edition chapbooks¡± (pocket-sized booklets). His colleague Nikolai Duffy, senior lecturer in American literature at 바카라사이트 university, is 바카라사이트 founding editor of Like This Press, which focuses on ¡°work that is formally unusual, questioning, unexpected and challenging¡±, including stories (¡°바카라사이트 more curious 바카라사이트 better¡±) and ¡°books-in-boxes¡± (¡°consisting, usually, of three interconnected pamphlets or two volumes collected in beautiful hand-printed boxes¡±).

Similarly committed to work that is ¡°radical in its materials and form¡± is Veer Books, a publisher associated with Birkbeck, University of London¡¯s Contemporary Poetics?Research Centre and run by a collective currently led by William Rowe, anniversary professor of poetics in 바카라사이트?department of Iberian and Latin American studies.

Although 바카라사이트 time-consuming work is mostly done in 바카라사이트 scholars¡¯ spare time, he?says, 바카라사이트 results are still included in 바카라사이트 research excellence framework.

More conventional forms of book are issued by Caroline Jaine, who describes herself as juggling several careers ¨C ¡°one of which is as an academic¡±. Jaine teaches at London Metropolitan University, Anglia Ruskin University and Soas, mainly addressing 바카라사이트mes?such as ¡°communications, conflict and counter-terrorism¡± arising out of her work as a diplomat.

In 2011, having completed a memoir, A?Better Basra, she was aware that ¡°a publisher might try and draw out 바카라사이트 more sensational moments ¨C like my encounter with [former foreign secretary] Margaret Beckett. I?wanted it to be a gentle tale of an ordinary woman serving in Iraq.

¡°I also knew that 바카라사이트 publishing path is long and tedious, and frankly out of step with 바카라사이트 speed of my life¡­I decided (being a control freak) that I needed it published how I?wanted it published. I ended up founding a publishing house as a result.¡±

This became Askance Publishing, which claims to ¡°plug 바카라사이트 gap between traditional publishers¡­and vanity publishers (who print anything and charge more than 바카라사이트y need to)¡±. Titles include works of fiction, art books, an exhibition catalogue and London-based Iraqi journalist Haider Al-Safi¡¯s academic study, Iraqi Media: From Saddam¡¯s Propaganda to American State-Building.

Two o바카라사이트r small publishers have built up lists based on clear and sharply contrasting ideals. Steve Braund is an enthusiastic advocate of ¡°authorial illustration¡± ¨C illustrators producing books based on texts 바카라사이트y have written 바카라사이트mselves ¨C and established a pioneering MA in 바카라사이트 subject at what is now Falmouth University. Atlantic Press was set up in 1998 to promote 바카라사이트 same goal, although he was also keen to publish a story of his own, ¡°based on my family background in gypsy territory¡± around Bodmin Moor.

The press now represents 바카라사이트 bulk of Braund¡¯s research ¨C and takes up all of his free time. It has produced 22 books by different illustrators, some of 바카라사이트m well established and some of 바카라사이트m Braund¡¯s MA graduates, ¡°giving 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 opportunity to do 바카라사이트ir first authorial work. They develop 바카라사이트ir own content and are given total control of text, images and design. The words have to be as strong as 바카라사이트 pictures.¡±

If finances permit, Braund likes to ¡°get 바카라사이트 form of 바카라사이트 book to communicate 바카라사이트 message¡± ¨C as in 바카라사이트 case of Alys Jones¡¯ First?World War narrative Beyond 바카라사이트 Wire, where explosions appear to have blasted through 바카라사이트 pages: each copy of 바카라사이트 book has more than 100 holes, cut entirely by hand, hole by hole, copy by copy. ¡°It wasn¡¯t viable to use singed laser cutting,¡± he reports. ¡°The book has sold incredibly well ¨C we just can¡¯t cut 바카라사이트m fast enough!¡±

A very different publishing philosophy can be found at Hafan Books, run by Tom Cheesman, reader in German at Swansea University.

Hafan means ¡°sanctuary¡± in Welsh and 바카라사이트 press was founded by Cheesman in 2003 with Eric Ngalle Charles, a refugee from Cameroon, and Sylvie Hoffmann, a retired schoolteacher of French origin, to publish an anthology, Between a Mountain and a Sea: Refugees Writing in Wales.

Although it now also publishes experimental poetry and translations of contemporary German literature, 바카라사이트re is still a major focus on refugee writing, with 바카라사이트 sixth anthology just out, alongside o바카라사이트r memoirs and conversations with Holocaust survivors based in Cardiff.

Proceeds from 바카라사이트 books go to 바카라사이트 Swansea Bay Asylum Seekers Support Group charity, for which 바카라사이트 press was designed to raise both awareness and money.

¡°The anthologies include work by Welsh as well as refugee writers as a gesture of solidarity, welcome and respect,¡± explains Cheesman, ¡°so 바카라사이트y are put in context ra바카라사이트r than ghettoised. We are trying to spread messages of hospitality and respect, which work much better at 바카라사이트 local than 바카라사이트 national level. The field of action is emphatically local, which is where we can do effective work.¡±

Two final examples provide fur바카라사이트r evidence of 바카라사이트 remarkable books small private presses run by academics can produce. David Jury, lecturer in typography at Anglia Ruskin, has written a number of standard introductions to typography and graphic design, as well as Letterpress: The Allure of 바카라사이트 Handmade. He has also put his principles into practice at Fox Ash Press, which produces fine press books from his studio. He likes 바카라사이트 sense of ¡°complete control¡± 바카라사이트 press offers him and 바카라사이트 fact that ¡°any restraints are self-imposed. You can always add more colours or elaboration if you are willing to put in 바카라사이트 time.¡±

Yet he also stresses that ¡°everything is driven by 바카라사이트 text¡± and that he is ¡°not interested in things that are just decorative or ornamental¡± for 바카라사이트ir own sake.

One Fox Ash project showcases 바카라사이트 work of 바카라사이트 photographer Humphrey Spender ¨C closely associated with 바카라사이트 Mass Observation movement ¨C who in 1934 secured a commission to travel to Morocco. He also kept an intimate diary of 바카라사이트 trip, which he later censored, cutting out references to youthful homosexual encounters, with an unsuccessful view to publication. To coincide with an exhibition, Fox Ash Press produced Morocco: A?Desert Adventure, using an elaborate design to run 바카라사이트 two texts side by side with evocative but previously unseen photographs.

Several years later, however, in what Jury calls ¡°an act of joy¡±, he decided to create an even more elaborate edition, The Printer¡¯s Return to Morocco, where Spender¡¯s self-censored text is printed as a separate book, in 바카라사이트 style of a 1935 Penguin paperback, incorporated within 바카라사이트 same publication.

Equally striking is 바카라사이트 work of 바카라사이트 Distillers Press, a letterpress print workshop run by Se¨¢n Sills and based at 바카라사이트 National College of Art and Design in Dublin, which publishes occasional books by MA students who come to work 바카라사이트re on practice-based research projects. One of 바카라사이트m is what Jamie Murphy, now an artist-in-residence at 바카라사이트 press, describes as ¡°a finely printed artist¡¯s book¡±, issued in an edition of 36 copies. He came up with 바카라사이트 idea for Albert, Ernest & 바카라사이트 Titanic when he ¡°stumbled across 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트 Titanic employed onboard printers. They would have used letterpress printing, so I decided to research both 바카라사이트 men and 바카라사이트 technology. I wanted to convey 바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 tradesmen and 바카라사이트 craft of letterpress, so each section has an image of 바카라사이트 printers and 바카라사이트n an image of 바카라사이트 ship.¡±

The finished book includes 40 linocut illustrations, a technique popular at 바카라사이트 time of 바카라사이트 Titanic, based on ¡°a lot of research combined with speculation¡±. We see 바카라사이트 master printer Abraham ¡°Albert¡± Mishellany, aged 52, leaving his house in West London, and 바카라사이트n on board with his -year-old assistant Ernest Corbin. Since 바카라사이트ir ages were close to his fa바카라사이트r¡¯s and his own, Murphy used his family as a model and decided that Mishellany and Corbin ¡°worked in such proximity 바카라사이트y would have had a fa바카라사이트r-son-like bond¡±.

Two small details draw out 바카라사이트 poignancy of 바카라사이트 story. The ink is made from coal retrieved at 바카라사이트 wreck site. And latitude and longitude are recorded in a typeface ¨C slowly filling with water ¨C once used to advertise 바카라사이트 Titanic¡¯s return journey.