A maker of books : Alec Bolton and his Brindabella Press / Michael Richards
- Bib ID:
- 8673946
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Richards, Michael, 1952-, author
- Description:
-
- Canberra, ACT : National Library of Australia Publishing, [2022]
- ©2022
- x, 461 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : portraits, illustrations (some colour) ; 25 cm.
- ISBN:
- 9781922507365 (hardback)
- Summary:
-
Alec Bolton and His Brindabella Press is an account of a passion: that of a publisher and the books he made for himself and his friends, keeping alive craft traditions that were threatened by unrelenting change. 'Printing is like religion', Alec Bolton once said. 'We live in sin, but with the hope of perfection before us.' And while his life circled around books and writing generally, it was above all with his private press, the Brindabella Press, that he won acclaim as an Australian book arts practitioner. He worked with modest resources from a lost era of letterpress printing in a small printery at his home in Canberra. Starting with one-page poems and pamphlets, he sought always to print better books. His editions of writers such as Barbara Hanrahan, Les A. Murray and Kenneth Slessor are now scarce and sought after. At the heart of everything was the poet Rosemary Dobson, his wife, who first suggested he take up letterpress printing and who wrote three of Brindabella's most lovely books.The transformation of the publishing program at the National Library of Australia is also part of the story told in this biography, based on the Bolton Papers at the Library. Branching out from the traditional biography format, this book illuminates the story of this talented creator through examining key works produced by the Brindabella Press, creating an innovative 'bibliobiography'. -- Provided by prepublication data and adapted from back cover.
- Full contents:
-
- 1. Beginnings
- 2. Angus & Robertson
- 3. The National Library of Australia
- 4. 'Christmas greetings from the Boltons' : Venite, Angeli sancti (1972)
- 5. 'And pretty awful too' : Rosemary Dobson, Three poems on water-springs (1973)
- 6. 'I am more or less pleased with it' : David Campbell, Starting from Central Station (1973)
- 7. 'Perhaps we could experiment?' : Bob Brissenden, Elegies (1974)
- 8. 'On the whole I think I am getting more ambitious' : John Rowland, Times and places (1976)
- 9. 'It is harder today... to define a role for a private press' : James McAuley, Time given (1976)
- 10. Interlude : Alec Bolton as reviewer
- 11. 'The printing of these small books takes me literally months and months' : Rosemary Dobson, Greek coins (1977)
- 12. 'With printing, it seems to be a case of "off with the old love, on with the new" : A.D. Hope, The drifting continent (1979)
- 13. 'A chance that was lost' : Harold Stewart, The exiled immortal (1981)
- 14.'The courage to take a step' : Rosemary Dobson, The continuance of poetry (1981)
- 15. 'A satisfying music' : Philip Mead, The spring-mire (1983)
- 16. 'A powerful artist might run away with the book' : Dorothy Green, Something to someone (1983)
- 17. 'I was happy with this book' : John Shaw Neilson, Some poems of Shaw Neilson (1985)
- 18. 'While I still have the strength to heave type metal around' : Christina Stead, The palace with several sides (1986)
- 19. Interlude : Alec Bolton as photographer
- 20. 'I hope to be very active and to produce quite a few titles' : Elizabeth Riddell, Occasions of birds (1987)
- 21. 'Kirtley's heroic but rather crazy enterprise' : R.D. FitzGerald, Heemskerck shoals (not published)
- 22. 'Exactly what the poem was expressing' : Judith Wright, Rainforest (1987)
- 23. 'I am trying to do books up to a standard rather than down to a price' : Geoff Page, Smiling in English, smoking in French (1987)
- 24. Interlude : Alec Bolton as oral history interviewer and valuer
- 25. 'The thrill of the text buoyed me along' : Geoffrey Serle, Percival Serle : A memoir (1988)
- 26. 'The first wood engraver I have ever come across who has a sense of Australianness in her work' : Les A. Murray, The idyll wheel (1989)
- 27. 'So strong and yet so tender' : Barbara Hanrahan, Twelve linocuts (1990)
- 28. 'Moonlight and water' : Kenneth Slessor, The sea poems of Kenneth Slessor (1990)
- 29. 'I think the experiment is a success' : Barbara Hanrahan, Iris in her garden (1991)
- 30. 'I have been present at many battles royal' : Rosemary Dobson, Untold lies (1992)
- 31. 'I feel a deep satisfaction in reclaiming something of which, for the past seven years, I felt unluckily deprived' : Philip Hodgins, The end of the season (1993)
- 32. 'In this rather solitary occupation there is a lot of time to think about the people whose work is printing' : Les A. Murray, The sleepout (1994)
- 33. 'Memory and the mind' : John Rowland, Granite country (1994)
- 34. 'The Helen Ogilive saga rolls slowly on' : Helen Ogilive, Wood engravings (1995)
- 35. 'I was fortunate to know her and to learn from her' : Nan MacDonald, For prisoners (1995)
- 36. 'Everything takes longer than is forseen' : Gavin Souter, A torrent of words (1996)
- 37. Last days of the Brindabella Press.
- Notes:
-
- Foreword by Dr Marie-Louise Ayres, Director General, National Library of Australia.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Subject:
-
- Bolton, Alec (Alec T.), 1926-1996
- Brindabella Press
- Brindabella Press -- Bibliography
- Officina Brindabella
- Officina Brindabella -- Bibliography
- Publishers and publishing -- Australia -- Biography
- Publishers and publishing -- Australian Capital Territory -- Canberra -- Biography
- Private presses -- Australia
- Private presses -- Australian Capital Territory -- Canberra
- Biography: general
- Australian
- Genre/Form:
- Biographies
- Other authors/contributors:
- Ayres, Marie-Louise, writer of foreword
- Also Titled:
-
- Alec Bolton and his Brindabella Press
- Maker of books
- Available From:
- Australian Prepublication Data Service
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2091 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary, dramatic or musical work
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 2021
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