'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, mostly on the weekends, 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. They are important to any serious collection of fine Australian books. 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 the Press’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 of one of Australia’s great creative publishers, based on the Bolton Papers at the Library. Branching out from the traditional biography format, A Maker of Books: Alec Bolton and His Brindabella Press illuminates the story of this talented creator through examining key works produced by the Brindabella Press, creating an innovative ‘bibliobiography’. (Publication summary)
'I hear that those new people have decided to have books in their library,’ remarked Edith Wharton disdainfully. That put-down, from an eminent novelist and book lover who was also a wealthy member of upper-class New York society, was delivered without ambiguity in the 1920s. The ‘new people’ were using books as interior decoration. They would never disturb the display of handsome volumes in their unused library by taking one from the shelf. Could they even read? Probably not, Wharton thought: they had been too busy making money.' (Introduction)
'When I began work on A Maker of Books, I had no idea that Alec Bolton had succeeded ‘Peter Pica’ (the publisher and bookseller Andrew Fabinyi) as a pseudonymous critic of Australian book design and production for Australian Book Review. He called himself ‘Martin Em’. I had set out to explore in detail Alec’s achievement as a letterpress printer of distinction at his private Brindabella Press, and also his long career in Australian publishing, but this was an unexpected discovery. The clue was a letter from Alec to John McLaren, the then editor of ABR, which I found in a completely unrelated file in the Alec Bolton papers at the National Library of Australia. When I looked at Martin Em’s ‘BookShapes’ columns, published between 1978 and 1982, Alec’s distinctive voice was quite apparent.' (Introduction)
'The National Library of Australia (NLA) has publicised Michael Richards’ book, A Maker of Books, as its ‘flagship title for the celebration’ of 50 years of NLA Publishing. Richards worked at the NLA between 1986 and 1998, and, as Director of Exhibitions, curated the Library’s major exhibition for the Australian Bicentennial.' (Introduction)
'The National Library of Australia (NLA) has publicised Michael Richards’ book, A Maker of Books, as its ‘flagship title for the celebration’ of 50 years of NLA Publishing. Richards worked at the NLA between 1986 and 1998, and, as Director of Exhibitions, curated the Library’s major exhibition for the Australian Bicentennial.' (Introduction)
'I hear that those new people have decided to have books in their library,’ remarked Edith Wharton disdainfully. That put-down, from an eminent novelist and book lover who was also a wealthy member of upper-class New York society, was delivered without ambiguity in the 1920s. The ‘new people’ were using books as interior decoration. They would never disturb the display of handsome volumes in their unused library by taking one from the shelf. Could they even read? Probably not, Wharton thought: they had been too busy making money.' (Introduction)
'When I began work on A Maker of Books, I had no idea that Alec Bolton had succeeded ‘Peter Pica’ (the publisher and bookseller Andrew Fabinyi) as a pseudonymous critic of Australian book design and production for Australian Book Review. He called himself ‘Martin Em’. I had set out to explore in detail Alec’s achievement as a letterpress printer of distinction at his private Brindabella Press, and also his long career in Australian publishing, but this was an unexpected discovery. The clue was a letter from Alec to John McLaren, the then editor of ABR, which I found in a completely unrelated file in the Alec Bolton papers at the National Library of Australia. When I looked at Martin Em’s ‘BookShapes’ columns, published between 1978 and 1982, Alec’s distinctive voice was quite apparent.' (Introduction)
