Authors Electric

Wood Engravings by Peter Holland I may have mentioned before .... that while my books are published in the modern, mass-produced way, my husband goes to the opposite extreme, commissioning fine, hand printed and bound books using traditional letterpress. Two years ago he, together with wood engraver Pete Lawrence, brought out 2020 Vision: Nineteen wood engravers, one collector and the artists who inspired them , beautifully printed by Pat Randle at Nomad Letterpress and handbound by Roger Grech . Produced to celebrate the centenary of The Society of Wood Engravers , all that was needed was the biennial Oxford Fine Press Book Fair to launch it in March 2020, and ….  But you know the rest. The pandemic happened and the Book Fair didn’t. Not in March, nor in November 2020. 2021 came and went, with not a rustle of antique page or handmade paper in Oxford (oh, except for business as usual in the Bodleian, of course). In November 2021 a flutter went through the book world as Ludlow Boo...

At the Ludlow Fine Press Book Fair, 6 - 7 November 2021 A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I did something we haven’t been able to do for nearly 4 years.  No, not paragliding. Or kitesurfing (as if). Or ringing doorbells and running away (run, at our age?) Something far more exciting.  We went to a Fine Press Book Fair.  There, I knew you’d be jealous.  Book lovers, letterpress printers, wood engravers, paper specialists, traditional binders and other craftsmen – all have been suffering withdrawal symptoms as a result of the sad but necessary cancellation of the biennial Oxford Fine Press Book Fair in March 2020. It will now be held on the weekend of 5 and 6 March 2022 – fingers crossed – but meanwhile lots of exhibitors were missing the chance to get together, and the clever people at Ludlow Book Binders came up with the idea of holding the first ever book fair at the Clive Pavilion, Ludlow Race Course, on 6 and 7 November 2021 . (Not a place you’d normally ex...