BookStorey

Maykovsky Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) is considered to be...

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:01:57 +0100

Maykovsky

Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) is considered to be one of the greatest Russian poets of the twentieth century. He was a leading figure in the Russian Futurism movement, which was concerned with dynamism, speed, machinery and urban life. Its members, also, publicly repudiated the literature of the past, outlining their intention in the introduction of their manifesto: A Slap in the Face of Public Taste (published December 1912) to: “Throw Pushkin, Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy overboard from the ship of modernity.”

Rather than use words to express romanticized thoughts and sentiments, as did his literary predecessors, Mayakovsky believed they were the raw production materials for manufacturing new poetic techniques that experimented with and expanded language. To express modernity, he used street slang and discarded traditional poetic rhythms, such as, iambic and trochaic metres.

Throughout his career, Mayakovsky inextricably combined art and politics. He enthusiastically embraced the October Revolution, designing propaganda posters for the Russian state news agency; but his Avant-garde radicalism soon clashed with the culturally philistine Soviet State under Stalin, which he attacked in his 1928 play: The Bedbug. Sadly, Maykovsky’s increasing political disillusionment and artistic curtailment contributed to his depression that led him to take his own life at the age of only thirty-six.

The book in the photographs is a collection of Maykovsky’s plays, articles and essays in English translation, published by Raduga Publishers, Moscow, in 1987.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter

Astounding Science Fiction Astounding Science Fiction, today...

Wed, 08 May 2013 17:01:55 +0100

Astounding Science Fiction

Astounding Science Fiction, today published under the title of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, was founded in the 1930s and in 2013 became the longest continuously running magazine of the science fiction genre. During its illustrious history, it has been instrumental in nurturing the careers of many writers who would go on to become giants of the genre, such as Lester del Rey, Theodore Sturgeon, Isaac Asimov, A.E. van Vogt and Robert Heinlein and it was, also, the first to print L. Ron Hubbard’s pseudoscientific theories on Dianetics, the belief system upon which scientology is based. As a testament to its far reaching impact, copies of Astounding Science Fiction can even be found in the library of the International Space Station.

Described by Isaac Asmiov as: “the most powerful force in science fiction ever,” John W. Campbell, the magazine’s editor from 1938 till his death in 1971, not only discovered new talent, but was also highly influential on the development of the genre: asking writers to avoid long descriptions of technology, as these would become redundant for readers of the future, in favour of focusing on the more human aspects of the story, as he believed: “It is the man, not the idea or machine that is the essence” of science fiction storytelling.

The books in the photographs are British editions dating from the 1950s. These tended to be slimmer versions of their American counterparts and had similar, but subtlety different covers; likely to avoid infringement of copyright.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter

The Lady’s Dressing-Room In the preface to The...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:02:00 +0100

The Lady’s Dressing-Room

In the preface to The Lady’s Dressing Room (published in 1892), its French author, Baroness Staffe, asks the question: “What is life, what is love, without some illusions?” The book, a guide for women on how to be beautiful, primarily, for the sake of their husbands, offers tips on: skincare, exercise and, even, rhinoplasty. Baroness Staffe seems to have applied the art of illusion to every aspect of her being; she was not, in fact, a real aristocratic Baroness, but a descendant of more humble, middle-class stock.

Although renowned for her beauty, the English translator of this book, Lady Colin Campbell (1857- 1911, born Gertrude Elizabeth Blood), had a far from happy marriage. Her whirlwind romance with Lord Campbell, who proposed after a three day courtship, led to one of the most scandalous and protracted divorce cases in Victorian society, with both sides accusing the other of adultery. Although her divorce petition was, ultimately, unsuccessful and led to her being shunned by high society, rather than quietly wither away after leaving her husband, she flourished as a journalist, becoming the first female editor of a major London newspaper and socialized in artistic and literary circles, where her friends and admirers included Whistler and George Bernard Shaw.

The book in the photographs is a first edition of the English translation, published in 1892 by Cassell & Company.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter

Romek Marber In 1962, Herbert Spencer published a sixteen-page...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:01:58 +0100

Romek Marber

In 1962, Herbert Spencer published a sixteen-page article in Typographica magazine charting the history and evolution of Penguin’s cover designs. In this article, he credited Penguin’s then head of Design, Germano Facetti, with modernizing their look. Although it was Facetti’s vision to modernize and unify the Penguin series, it was a lesser known designer, Romek Marber, who was, in fact, responsible for the creation of a new and archetypal template that would come to define Penguin covers throughout the 1960s, and even into the 1970s. At Facetti’s behest, Spencer later published a two-page correction, giving Marber his rightful recognition.

Romek Marber(1925) was a Polish freelance designer who first came to Britain in 1946. On the strength of his work for the Economist, Facetti first commissioned him to design covers for Simeon Potter’s Our Language and Language in the Modern World. Soon after, Marber fought off competition from other designers to be given the chance to revamp the Penguin Crime series. For this, Marber devised a grid pattern (now referred to as the ‘Marber Grid’) where, essentially, the typography occupied one third of the cover and the illustration the remaining two thirds. Initially, applied to just the Crime Series, this layout was later adopted and applied to the majority of Penguin’s other lines.

Whilst Marber’s influence on Penguin’s cover designs was comprehensive, taken in isolation, the Crime Series can be regarded as iconic in its own right. To create these highly stylized and distinctive images he employed various techniques, such as: photographic distortion, collage, geometric patterns, and, at times, even the use of his own face. Marber designed at least 71 covers for the series and read each of the books, as for him: “doing a cover was the excitement of trying to get across what I had just read in a single image.”

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter

Charles Mozley Charles Mozely (1912-1991) was a prolific...

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 17:01:59 +0100

Charles Mozley

Charles Mozely (1912-1991) was a prolific English artist, illustrator and graphic designer whose work has drawn comparisons with Toulouse-Lautrec. He found success as a book illustrator and jacket designer in both Britain and the United States, illustrating over 80 books and more than 60 jacket designs. His belief that the artist was responsible not just for creating the illustration, but also how it should be reproduced, led to his involvement in typographic design and interest in the type of paper and production method used.

The jacket design for this first edition of Iris Murdoch’s The Sandcastle, published by Chatto & Windus in 1957, is illustrative of Mozely’s ability to suggest character and their relationships with each other without necessarily drawing on a specific scene in the narrative. However, deviations from the author’s descriptions were not tolerated by the publisher and he was required to change the hair of the male character on the front cover from a shock of black hair to a thinning white scalp.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter

Picture Post Picture Post (sometimes referred to as the UK...

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Picture Post

Picture Post (sometimes referred to as the UK version of Life) was a weekly photo journalistic magazine that ran from 1938 to 1957 and had, at its peak in 1943, a circulation of almost two million. Capturing everything from snapshots of everyday life to defining moments in history, its pages seamlessly blended current affairs, fashion and entertainment, giving it a broad appeal: “to the common man, the worker and the intelligentsia”.

Despite its Conservative ownership, its editors made it a vehicle for championing liberal causes. From the outset the magazine was overtly critical of Nazi Germany and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement and in 1941 it published a Plan for Britain that helped lay the foundations of the British Welfare State.

In 1945 its owner, Sir Edward Hulton, set up the Hulton Picture Library to preserve as a historical documentary resource its vast collection of photographs and negatives; both published and unpublished. When the magazine folded the library was sold to the BBC and its current owner The Getty have digitized and added it to their Images website as a featured resource.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter

Fanny Cradock: “Bon Viveur” Fanny Cradock, the flamboyant and...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Fanny Cradock: “Bon Viveur”

Fanny Cradock, the flamboyant and forthright ‘Queen of Cuisine,’ who thrilled and frightened television audiences in equal measure for over twenty years during the 1950s-1970s, is regarded as the first celebrity TV chef. She served her audience exotic and cost-conscious recipes that wouldn’t “stretch the purse,” including green-cheese ice-cream and Prawn Cocktail, whilst elaborately attired in evening wear, heavy make-up and no apron, to emphasize how easy, clean and glamorous cooking should be . Her influence on British cooking did not go unnoticed even by the Queen Mother who credited her for being largely responsible: “for improving standards of catering in Britain.”

It is hardly surprising that her grasp on economic realities coupled with a self-delusional air of grandeur struck a chord with aspiring housewives across the county. However, beneath the immaculate veneer lay a less than refined reality. The daughter of bohemian parents who left her to the care of her grandparents from the age of one whilst they squandered their fortune, she abandoned her own two children and married four times, twice bigamously. It was unknown to the public that she did not marry sidekick and on and off-screen hen-pecked husband, Major Johnnie Cradock - who had left his wife and four children to be with her - till several years after they had disappeared from television screens. The Cradocks liked to live up to their good living, ‘Bon Viveur’ (the name of their Daily Telegraph food and travel column that ran between 1950-55) reputations by driving around in a Rolls Royce and throwing lavish parties Fanny encouraged journalists to describe as ‘Hollywood style.’ At these parties the guests were famously served tomatoes fertilized in Fanny’s urine (or as she euphemistically called it: ‘Madam’s Tonic’) and the couple were described by one of her assistants as: “two of the dirtiest people I’ve ever met.”

Retiring into obscurity after a disastrous guest appearance on a programme called The Big Time, where her rude and condescending behaviour towards a housewife who had been invited to prepare a banquet for the former Prime Minister Edward Heath led to her departure from television schedules, her complete inability to face reality became particularly apparent when she refused to spend any significant time with Major Cradock as he was dying. His death, however, affected her deeply and she became increasingly withdrawn, dying in 1994 with a teddy bear he had given her by her bedside table.

The book in the photograph is a first edition of one of Fanny’s cookbooks from 1959.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter

Peter Sís Peter Sís is a Czech born, New York based author,...

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:01:00 +0000

Peter Sís

Peter Sís is a Czech born, New York based author, illustrator and filmmaker whose impressive list of awards includes being a six times recipient of The New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year.

Beginning his career as an award winning filmmaker in his native country, his life took a different direction when he was sent by the Czechoslovak authorities in 1984 to film the Winter Olympic Games in Los Angeles. After being ordered to return home when the entire Eastern bloc decided to stage a boycott, he chose to remain in the US, where he sought asylum. With the help of Where the Wild Things Are author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, he was introduced to children’s book editors and moved to New York.

Even if unfamiliar with his name, you may have already encountered his work: in books, such as, the illustrations for the first edition of the José Saramgo fable in the photographs and in leading publications, including The New York Times Book Review where he has contributed over a thousand drawings. In amongst his portfolio is also the famous poster for fellow Czech, Miloš Forman’s, film Amadeus, a mural for New York City’s 86th Street Lexington Avenue subway station and short films for Sesame Street.

His children’s book about his childhood in Communist Czechoslovakia called The Wall: Growing up Behind the Iron Curtain, published in 1997 by Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, was described by the late playwright and former President of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel, as being: “required reading for all those who take their freedom for granted.”

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Founding Father Benjamin...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 17:01:42 +0000

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Founding Father Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) is the embodiment of the archetypal American whose remarkable rise “From the poverty and obscurity in which I was born….. to a state of affluence and some degree of celebrity in the world” encapsulated and enshrined forever the ideals of the American Dream.

As a printer, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor and civic activist – or any other field he chose to turn his hand to - the driving force behind Franklin’s motivation appears to have been the desire to see improvement; both personally and within society. To aide his self-improvement he devised diagrams (see photographs) with the aim of becoming more humble, frugal, virtuous and industrious. Whilst he endeavoured to make himself a better person, he also worked tirelessly in the community to establish many civic institutions including: a library, university, hospital and fire brigade. He even introduced road sweeping and devised a hand drawn cart to be used for this purpose. His sense of altruism was evident in the fact he never patented any of his many inventions, as he believed: “we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.”

The desire for self-improvement was perhaps why he did not feel the need or any sense of shame in leading a somewhat unconventional life. He entered into a Common Law Marriage with Miss Read who was unable to marry legally after her first husband deserted her and could not be traced to grant a divorce. Together they raised Franklin’s illegitimate son in addition to their own children. Although he believed in God, he never attached himself to a particular denomination and experimented with Vegetarianism long before it became fashionable or common (this he did, it seems, to be thriftier as much as healthier).

Considered the first American book to be taken seriously by Europeans as literature, his autobiography is yet another addition to his list of remarkable achievements. The book did not so much define the autobiographical literary genre; as become its standard bearer – and even 200 years after its publication; it remains an easy and enjoyable read. Franklin’s ethos of self-improvement has also led it to be cited as establishing the self-help genre.

The book in the photographs was published by Blackie & Son around 1904.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter.

Germano Facetti The 1960s is regarded as one of the golden eras...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 17:01:38 +0000

Germano Facetti

The 1960s is regarded as one of the golden eras for cover design in Penguin’s history. This was largely due to the talents and vision of one man: Italian graphic designer Germano Facetti (1026-2009), head of design from 1962 to 1971. He was given the challenge of modernising Penguin covers to make them more attractive to a younger generation without alienating the existing audience. To help him achieve this, he wanted to define a unified visual identity as he believed it was: “much more important that Penguin established a high standard throughout, rather than swinging from good to bad, cover to cover, as almost all other publishers do.”

One of Facetti’s crowning achievements was the radical overhaul of the Penguin Classics series. Facetti introduced a new black cover design, as he believed it was a more effective colour for selling books. Also, instead of using commissioned woodcut illustrations; he selected images that normally belonged to the period of the book’s first publication. In so doing, he wanted the book covers to communicate something beyond what the story itself was about: so it expressed its historical context and author. In his own words, he was aiming to create: “pictures for construction of a sequence of understanding which leads beyond the text.”

The idea of a black cover was not initially universally embraced by Penguin. However, Facetti was so strong in his conviction he staked a magnum of Champagne to prove his point. He won the wager when a test display in Blackwell’s bookshop, Oxford, led to an impressive increase in the shop’s sales of Penguin Classics.

The books in the photographs are two examples of his work from 1964 and 1965.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter.

Ivan Turgenev and the Foreign Languages Publishing House The...

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 17:02:10 +0000

Ivan Turgenev and the Foreign Languages Publishing House

The English translation of Ivan Turgenev’s (1818- 1883) A Nest of Gentry (1849) in the photographs was published in the USSR during the Stalinist era by the state owned Foreign Language Publishing House, Moscow in 1947. Its purpose was to disseminate propaganda beyond the USSR’s borders and its output included: works by Lenin and Stalin, books about life in the USSR and literature.

It’s easy to see why Turgenev’s work was favoured by the Soviet regime as: he was against serfdom - one of his short stories is credited with helping to sway public opinion in favour of its abolition - and, unlike his contemporaries Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy with whom he clashed both personally and artistically, he was not preoccupied by questions of religion and morality; preferring to dwell on memories of the past and the pastoral beauty of nature.

It was not just the Soviet State who esteemed Turgenev’s writing. Whilst he was mocked by Tolstoy who called him a “bore” and Dostoyevsky who parodied him in his novel The Devils (1872), his delicate gentility was more influential on a later generation of writers, including Henry James and Joseph Conrad who admired Turgenev more than either of his literary detractors.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter.

Poems & Songs of Robert Burns Robert Burns (1759 –1796),...

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 17:01:45 +0000

Portrait

A sample of Burns' handwriting

Poems & Songs of Robert Burns

Robert Burns (1759 –1796), best known for Auld Lang Syne, Tam o’ Shanter and A Red, Red Rose, is widely regarded as Scotland’s national poet. For over 200 years Burns Suppers, celebrating his life and work, are held across the globe around the date of his birthday, 25th of January (You can read a detailed breakdown of the evening here).

The first Burns Supper was held at his cottage in Alloway in 1801 on the fifth anniversary of his death by nine men who had known him in life. The following year they agreed to meet on his birthday; and the tradition quickly spread: with the first Burns Supper to be held outside of Scotland taking place in Oxford in 1806.

The book in the photographs was published by Collins Clear-Type Press in 1955. The collection of poems and songs, including some which had never been previously published, was edited and introduced by James Barke (1905-1958). Barke wrote an acclaimed five part novelisation detailing Burns’ short, impoverished and extraordinary life: The Immortal Memory (1946-54).

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter.

Balthazar, Lawrence Durrell Balthazar is the second of four...

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:01:53 +0000

Balthazar, Lawrence Durrell

Balthazar is the second of four novels - each telling the same story from a difference perspective - in Lawrence Durrell’s Magnum opus: ‘The Alexandria Quartet.’ In this novel, Darley, from whose viewpoint the first novel Justine is told, is forced to revisit, re-evaluate and revise his previous interpretation of the past when his Alexandrian friend Balthazar pays an unexpected visit to his Corfu island retreat.

Durrell presents multiple perspectives in his Quartet, creating what he described as a “stereoscopic effect,” to give a greater sense of verisimilitude. However, whilst more knowledge is gained with each novel; Durrell, perversely, also makes the reader aware - that by its transient and unstable nature - the truth is ultimately elusive.

Like the past Durrell writes about, so too has his Quartet undergone continuous reinterpretation. A commercial and critical success at the time of its initial publication; it later fell out of fashion; and is currently enjoying something of a revival, including being selected last year for discussion and analysis by The Guardian Reading Group.

The book in the photographs is a First Edition, second impression, published by Faber in 1958 with a jacket design by Berthold Wolpe.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter.

“Frostie” - Eunice Frost The Penguin logo by Edward...

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 16:30:37 +0000

Penguin Modern Penguin Series 1940s

Frostie

Victor Pasmore

Henry Moore

Graham Sutherland

Matthew Smith

“Frostie” - Eunice Frost

The Penguin logo by Edward Young is easily the most recognisable and iconic in publishing. Less well known, it was named “Frostie” after the first woman to be appointed to the Penguin Board of Directors, Eunice Frost, or her contribution in helping shape one of the most successful stories in publishing history.

The enigmatic and eccentric Eunice Frost joined Penguin in 1937 as a secretary, but soon became the pivotal driving force of its editorial output. She steered the company to broaden their portfolio beyond reprinting fiction to creating their own unique work, including the Pelican and Penguin Modern Painter series (4 of the 16 titles originally published in the 1940s are pictured in the photographs). She was also the one who primarily dealt with the authors, publishers and illustrators and in 1941 she was sent to New York to set up the American branch of Penguin Books.

She described herself as a “literary midwife:” working tirelessly to bring Penguin publications into the world, but, despite becoming the first woman in publishing to receive an OBE, she felt her work went largely unacknowledged and unaccredited. The eminent Art Historian and Editor of the Penguin Modern Painter series, Kenneth Clark reinforces this opinion when he wrote to her in 1954 shortly before the revised editions were due to be published “I would much rather my name were not printed as Editor of your new series because I have done nothing to deserve it. You have done all the work during the last 10 years, and it is high time your name appeared and you got the credit for it.”

Although her name may never have appeared on a single edition of a Penguin book, her association with its logo ensures she remains an implicit, if somewhat invisible, presence to this day.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter.

The Child’s Bible This edition of The Child’s...

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 09:00:56 +0000

The Child’s Bible

This edition of The Child’s Bible, published by Cassell Petter & Galpin, dates from around 1877. The book contains over 200 original woodcut illustrations and measures approximately 28cm by 21 cm.

In the introduction The Editor explains the purpose of the Bible is to provide children with a more complete narrative of the Old and New Testaments that also retains the language of the Authorsied Version.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter.

Anthony Russo The cover illustrations for the Naguid Mahouz...

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 15:01:00 +0000

Anthony Russo

The cover illustrations for the Naguid Mahouz books in the photographs are by the award winning freelance illustrator and self-described ‘caveman in a high-tech world” Anthony Russo. Russo’s impressive portfolio includes work for Rolling Stone, The New York Times (here is an example of his work http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/opinion/29terkel.html) and Random House. His cover for the New Yorker published in November 2003 (http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/11/24/031124fa_fact1) is representative of his trademark black and white graphic style that contains Cubist and German Expressionist influences. He uses a primitive style in order to try and convey the emotion of a subject. As he explains in his own words:

“It’s about communication with images…and how basic that is to our nature”

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter.

Trevor Denning The jacket design for this first edition of...

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Trevor Denning

The jacket design for this first edition of Bulls of Parral by Marguerite Steen was by the English artist, sculptor and writer Trevor Denning (1923-2009). Denning, whose most well-known work is the oil canvas Large Mouth (1966), was a transformative figure in the Birmingham contemporary art scene who influenced, in particular, the founders of the Ikon Gallery. As its current director Jonathan Watkins explained:

“Trevor Denning was vitally important for the post-war Birmingham art world. His incisive mind, his radical scepticism and commitment to cultural life here made an enormous difference. Ikon will always be in his debt.”

Denning was also obsessed with Spanish Playing Cards and wrote a book on the subject: The Playing-Cards Of Spain: A Guide for Historians and Collectors. In 1993 he was awarded the Modiano Prize for his research into their history.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter.

Invitation to a BeheadingVladimir Nabokov Cincinnatus C. is a...

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Invitation to a Beheading
Vladimir Nabokov

Cincinnatus C. is a man condemned to death by beheading for no real discernible crime. He awaits his fate as the sole prisoner of a bleak and ghoulish fortress from where he observes his surroundings and looks back on his life.

Through the eyes of Cincinnatus, Nabokov presents the fabric of reality as a nightmarish puppet theatre, filled with transparent, cardboard cut-out figures, where fear, uncertainty and irrationality reign supreme and to dream is a crime. In stark contrast, Cincinnatus is an opaque, imaginative and complex individual: a dreamer who fails to conform and, as the phrase Nabokov uses to describe the novel, represents: “a violin in a void.”

The novel first appeared serially in the Russian émigré magazine, the Sovremennye zapiski, in 1938. The English translation and cover design of this Penguin first thus is by Nabokov’s son and only child, Dmitri Nabokov, who also collaborated with his father on a of translation of Mikhail Lermontov’s novel, A Hero of Our Time.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter.

Sir Roger De Coverley from the Spectator Sir Roger de Coverley...

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Sir Roger De Coverley from the Spectator

Sir Roger de Coverley is a collection of stories about a loveable, if slightly foolish, country squire and his small band of gentleman friends, told by a fictional narrator Mr. Spectator who professes to live in the world “rather as a Spectator of Mankind, than as one of the Species.” Commenting on manners, morals, behaviour and good-breeding, they first appeared in the original incarnation of The Spectator (1711-12), founded by childhood friends Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, who earlier in 1709 also published Tatler.

Although this Spectator’s Little-Britain (the street address given for the paper), conservative values may feel outmoded to the modern reader, its place in history and contribution to the Enlightenment shouldn’t be overlooked. Its light touch made it accessible and popular with a burgeoning middle class and it was one of the first papers to make a conscious effort to appeal to women. It also made an impression on Benjamin Franklin (1706-90), who in his autobiography credited The Spectator with providing the model for his own style of writing and he reprinted several of its essays in the American colonies over fifty years after their initial publication.

The book in the photographs with illustrations by Chas. O. Murray dates from around 1889.

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter.

Dark Corners of the Land, Adelle Stripe This chapbook published...

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:30:21 +0000

Dark Corners of the Land, Adelle Stripe

This chapbook published by Blackheath books is the third collection of poems by Adelle Stripe (winner of 3:AM Magazine book of the year in 2009). Inside is a signed tea card and print by Lisa Cradduck. As the title suggests, this is not a cosy and comforting slice of rural life; instead you will find candidly raw and disquieting memories that make this collection both haunting and deeply moving.

In 2006, alongside Tony O’Neill and Ben Myers, Adelle Stripe founded the Brutalist poetry movement that was launched on Myspace. They had the following manifesto:

“Brutalism calls for writing that touches upon levels of raw honesty that is a lacking from most mainstream fiction. We cannot simply sit around waiting to be discovered — we would rather do it ourselves. Total control, total creativity. The Brutalists see ourselves as a band who have put down their instruments and picked up their pens and scalpels instead. The only maxim we adhere to is an old punk belief, which we have bastardized for our own means: Here’s a laptop. Here’s a spell-check. Now write a book..”

For further book scraps, please follow on Twitter.