Miniature Book Society, Inc. A society that promotes and publicizes miniature books of all types. including letterpress; calligraphic; finely bound; publishers editions; limited and not so limited editions. The Society's Miniature Book Competition entries for 2002, 2003 and later are shown online, and the Society organizes an annual Conclave (meeting) which is attended by members from all over the world. In 2013 this will be held in Vancouver - see the Blog on this site.
Lilly Library, University of Indiana A large and fascinating collection which includes the Ruth Adomeit archive. A number of books is shown online, with lots of supplementary information. www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/miniatures
The Charlotte M. Smith Collection of Miniature Books, University of Iowa Libraries. These books were exhibited in 1996 and this is shown online, at http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/bookcolls/Smith Miniature Collection/smithindex.htm
SITES RELATED TO CONTENT OF DE WALDEN PRESS BOOKS
The Morgan Motor Company Ltd. www.morgan-motor.co.uk
The Tower of London Her Majesty's Royal Palaces http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/collections/library-art-archives
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust www.shakespeare.org.uk
Old London Bridge http://oldlondonbridge.com/index.shtml
SITES RELATING TO LETTERPRESS PRINTING & BOOKBINDING
Eden Workshops www.edenworkshops.com/ This is a great resource for all book arts, bookbinding, calligraphy etc. (Richard Norman prop.)
The Bowler Press www.thebowlerpress.ca (Jarrett Morrison, prop.)
National Library of Canada, Private Presses www.nlc-bnc.ca/presses Rather outdated, but some useful info.
Frog Hollow Press www.froghollowpress.com (Caryl Peters, prop.)
Green Boathouse Press Greenboathouse Press (Jason Dewinetz, prop.)
Fine Press Book Association www.fpba.com
Canadian Bookbinders & Book Artists Guild www.cbbag.ca
Society of Bookbinders www.societyofbookbinders.co.uk
Shanty Bay Press www.shantybaypress.com Walter Bachinski and Janis Butler's finely printed and illustrated books.
Alcuin Society alcuinsociety.com/ A Vancouver-based society founded to promote a wider appreciation of finely-wrought books among book lovers around the world. Alcuin organizes an annual book-design competition and hosts the Vancouver Wayzgoose.
Barbarian Press www.barbarianpress.com Crispin and Jan Elsted - More great Fine Press books.
ARCHIVED NEWS ITEMS
The following items come from my previous website, and I reproduce them here for information.
SMALLER EDITIONS
Way back in 1996, when I first started publishing, I was making larger editions, but found that I was spending too much time on repetitive tasks and not as much time as I would like on the design and origination of the book, so I decided to reduce the size of the editions. My last book was an edition of twenty. This means that costs such as the printing set-up and plates are shared between fewer books, and consequently the price is a little higher.
MOVE BRINGS CHANGES
Times change, and we have to try to go with the flow. The printer of 'Old London Bridge' decided to retire in 2004, and De Walden Press made the decision to undertake the job of printing its own publications on a hand press. After some searching, I found a small Craftsmen printing press in Victoria, shipped it up to Qualicum Beach, and this is now in use. So from researching, writing and illustrating the text, to printing, binding and mailing books out to customers, everything from now on will be done in-house, except where stated.
DE WALDEN PRESS OUT WEST - THE BIG MOVE
In 2003 Jan and her husband decided to move to Canada, to be nearer to Jan's family. This meant that all bookmaking ceased in Malvern in December 2002, so that the whole 'kit & caboodle' could be packed up ready to be shipped to Canada. Some six months later, it was delivered safely and only slightly rusty to its new location here in Qualicum Beach, and it was then possible to resume publication of 'Old London Bridge'.
The book had already been printed, the leather dyed, and all was ready for binding. Four copies were bound before leaving the U.K., and three were then packed away, so no copies were published until 2003, although the date inside the book shows 2002 as the publication date. A mystery for future collectors! The fourth bound copy was left with Peter Scott, who was writing an article about the Press, and this copy eventually found its way to the Miniature Book Society Annual Competition 2003, and won a Distinguished Book Award.