An occasional newsletter about forthcoming books and events
 

April 2022

In this newsletter . . .

our tentative plans for 2022

sheets now available for: Palladio's Homes

no news of: Twelve poems from the Manyoshu

Right now we should be working on Twelve poems from the Manyoshu. But alas, no - see below.

Meanwhile three new projects are beginning to emerge. It's too early to be too definite about them but here are some hints of what might be to come. As ever we will be announcing more details in future newsletters as the projects take shape.

First, we hope to start work on a book about the production of one of the finest herbals of the seventeenth century, with some great original pieces in it. This will be our tenth book on the history of printing at Oxford University Press.

Second, in collaboration with paper and textile artist Eleanor Burkett we are planning a book about the work of Japanese paper-makers in the Fukushima province in the 1950s with texts and photographs of their process in action - it's an area with a thousand-year-old history of papermaking that is on the brink of extinction. The image below is a snippet from one of the excellent photographs that we hope to use, showing a woman picking off tiny specks of outer bark from boiled kozo fibres in a river, very cold and backbreaking work.

We think this will fit well with our two books on English paper mills that closed in the last century: Paper making by hand in 1953 about work at Barcham Green and Making paper at Abbey Mills, both of which are still available and both using papers from their respective mills. Our new book will no doubt make a major feature of Japanese papers, including some from the area concerned.

Finally, we have draft plans for a book telling the tale of an Old School Press book that very nearly never was: Venice Visited. It all seemed to be moving along so well until disaster . . .

Binders take note . . .

We have sets of unbound sheets for Palladio's Homes which we are offering for sale at £120 a set plus shipping. If this interests you and you would like to know more do check out the entry for the book at our website.

The book has a slightly unusual collation, necessary to avoid sewing through illustrations that span an opening: two 16-page sections, one 12-page section, fourteen 4-page sections and one 16-page section. In our binding of the book, the 4-page sections (i.e. two leaves each) are glued on the fold, and not sewn. The page height is 356mm, the page width is 250mm. The book is printed on a gorgeous paper by Cartiera Amatruda in Amalfi.

Sets can be ordered via our online shop.

Here's a sample opening from the book with one of Carlo Rapp's illustrations:

Lost by FedEx or stolen from FedEx?

All that Japanese hand-made paper, all that work by fine art printer Alan Flint - gone. Naoko Matsubara's woodcuts and the poem translations by Clare Pollard and Penny Boxall - unused.

In their final email FedEx said they hoped we would use their services again in the future. Currently Alan is still trying to get the shipping costs refunded. Make your own judgement.

We have not entirely given up on this project and perhaps there will be more about it in a different form in a future newsletter. And maybe that great big trunk will turn up one day.

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Copyright © Martyn Ould 2022