Among Scotland’s rich history of publishing houses, is the short lived, yet highly influential Rebel Inc (1992 – 2001). Founded by Kevin Williamson, it evolved from a magazine that helped establish writers, such as, the then unknown, Irvine Welsh and Alan Warner. In 1996, after the success of Welsh’s Trainspotting, it teamed up with Cannongate Books and went on to challenge perceived conceptions of classic writing by publishing a diverse portfolio: from the out-of-print Alexander Trocchi to Charles Bukowski. Sadly, Williamson’s departure from Rebel Inc led shortly after to its demise as a publishing imprint.
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The photographs are of books published in the early 1900s by Oxford University Press. Each one is exquisitely bound with padded leather and the pages are fully gilded. Inside the cover of each book appears the somewhat mysterious name of Henry Frowde. He was, however, neither a writer nor an illustrator, but was bestowed the formal title of Publisher to the University of Oxford in 1880 after having joined 4 years prior, coming to prominence with his biblical publications (his first Oxford Bible quickly selling 250,000 copies). Despite being one of the greatest names associated with Oxford University Press, he remains an enigma, as one work colleague described him: ‘Very few of us here in Oxford had any personal knowledge of him.’ However, what is certain, is the elegant body of work he endowed to the world of print.
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I found out about OFF_Press, an independent publishing house who promote Polish creative writing in English translation, through an article in the guardian: Cover story: a year of beautiful books that had a link to the Flickr group Beautiful books on my shelf.
I then bought a copy of the book Free Over Blood which is beautifully handmade using Japanese Yamato/monk style binding. I have to admit to being completely taken aback at how artfully it was crafted.
The book itself contains several generations of Polish poets, both emerging and more established. As it is an anthology, it’s natural to gravitate more towards some people’s work than others. Below is my favourite poem by Jacek Dehnel:
And the river courses deeper, dissolving the silt,
seeps through profiles and rules of the game.
It murmurs: these are people, their dogs and homes,
and none of it matters - the paunch, the throws,
Twitter, email. Because beneath it all flows
another river, wordless, and deeper still.
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Blackheath Books are an independent artisan printing, publishing and bookmaking house for mainly anit-establishment poetry. Each book is a lovingly handcrafted, limited edition. Editions are hard or soft cover and are usually signed by the author and the print runs only extend to around 100 copies. Writers range from more those who have been round for a while, such as Billy Chyldish, as well as more recent discoveries such as Jenni Fagan and Adelle Stripe.
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Judging books by their cover
