John Swarbrick's List of Wharfedale Flies, 1807
with an introduction by Leslie Magee
Trout fishermen using fishing flies carefully made from feathers to imitate tasty insects have for centuries favoured the River Wharfe for their sport, standing in deep pools to cast their line upstream; John Swarbrick's List of Flies for the River Wharfe, written in 1807, existed only as manuscript copies passed down within local families until it was printed in 1907, but copies of this are excessively rare. The list is the earliest one which gives details of the dressings for the flies, and their uses. The descriptions nicely suited a miniature book, almost one to a page, with each fly (there are 30) photographed and reproduced on fold-out pages printed by J.W.Northend. There are several illustrations by Joan Hassall; and Leslie Magee, who is a well-known expert on Yorkshire fishing flies, has provided an introduction.
Printed at the Fleece Press in 7pt Monotype Garamond set by Harry McIntosh in Edinburgh, on blue 1950s handmade paper, bound in marbled paper made in 1995 by Compton Marbling.
There is only one miniature book in the world which also bears actual fishing flies, and Swarbrick's List of Wharfedale Flies is the second. Each standard copy has one fly sewn into a recess in the back board and one sewn into the front board, and 100 deluxe copies show all thirty in a specially-constructed binding design made by Ken and Joyce Smith, my co-publishers, housed in an oak box made by Stephen Byrne. 260 standard copies (£64, all sold) and 100 specials (£485, a very few available), split equally between Ken Smith Publishing and the Fleece Press. A prospectus with a sample image, though fewer details than here, is also available.
Think of it as a Poster
by Brian Webb
The Leslie Cole book described on the previous page was issued with the added bonus of a free not-quite-a-miniature book, published in the summer of 2010, which gives background on the brilliant use of wood engravings and linocuts in British stamps. Brian Webb has worked with the Post Office on numerous stamp designs, with artists including Clare Melinsky and Andrew Davidson, both of them included here. 9000 stamps have been tipped-in to the books. The standard copies contain 17 actual stamps dating as far back as 1963, and are hard-bound in a lovely patterned paper based on a design by Clare Melinsky; a tiny handful of copies are available, price £50 (net).
100 special copies** are housed in an oak tray and replica postbox lid made by Stephen Byrne, which have extra pages, and include 44 original stamps, as well as stamps by Andrew Davidson, Clare Melinsky and John Lawrence printed especially for this book. These are £212 net, and a few copies are available to order.
** Technical challenges in the casting of the postbox lid meant that 75 rather than 100 special copies were bound thus, and so there are 25 special copies of the book available (each bearing the 44 stamps) in a varying presentation. Each copy has a hand-written note signed by myself detailing this change from the announced format, and these copies are available at £65 net. They do not vary except for the absence of the oak tray and postbox lid.
Tone, texture, light & shade
A Barnett Freedman picture album
Introduced by Ian Rogerson
Ian Rogerson’s 2005 book on Barnett Freedman for the Press was, astonishingly, the first since Barnett’s death in early 1958. It covered his graphic work, and sold out on publication. Since that time a good deal of material has been discovered which must be shared with those who love Barnett’s work, which you will find here. There are wonderful ephemeral items, photographs of his posters on hoardings and on display in Lyons Corner Houses, paintings in public ownership, very good student work from the early 1920s when at the third attempt he gained a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, and these are shown along with a number of the very best images you saw in the first book – which would be naturally expected to be here. Ian Rogerson has written a short Introduction to this new picture-book of Barnett’s work.
All 330 copies contain an original tipped-in lithographic illustration from one of Barnett’s books, and of these, 90 special copies are accompanied by an original lithographic Christmas card: these are among the most keenly-collected examples of his work. The book runs to about 160 pages of images, with ten folding tipped-in illustrations, some letterpress; it is printed on the final stock of high-quality Parilux paper by J. W. Northend, Sheffield. All copies are quarter bound in cloth and a truly stunning Freedman patterned paper. Flamboyance is the remit.
Standard 240 copies are £192 and are now available; the special 90 copies were £296 though these were fully subscribed within a week of the postal prospectus being sent out in December 2010. Postage is £6.
Peter Reddick: Land, Sea & Sky
Peter died on 28th September 2010, and will be missed. He was a good man.
Peter Reddick had a long and distinguished artistic career, principally as a wood engraver, and is well-known for his illustrations to the entire Folio Society series of Thomas Hardy's novels. Peter devoted much of his career to this singular task, and for a sizeable portion of the reading public the names Hardy and Reddick are as closely linked as, say, those of Dickens and 'Phiz'. In these as well as many other volumes, most recently the Folio Wordsworth edition, Peter's absolute mastery in depiction of the landscape comes to the fore. It was therefore a special delight to gather together about eighteen of his blocks, in a wide variety of settings, in this volume, printed on dampened Magnani paper on an Albion Press; bound in quarter cloth and marbled paper made by Enrico Ricciardi. Published late 2009, it immediately went out of print; shortlisted in the British Book Design and Production Awards, 2010.
Simon Lawrence, The Fleece Press, 95 Denby Lane, Upper Denby, Huddersfield HD8 8TZ
Telephone 01226 792200