LOCAL ublishing THE EARLY YEARS Books have been published in the north of Ireland since the 1690s when Patrick Neill, a printer from Glasgow, and his apprentice James Blow set up shop in Belfast. In the following three centuries many thousands of titles have been published by commercial publishing firms, as well as individuals, societies, businesses, churches, sporting clubs and others. The desire to set down in print a history or a work of literary imagination, and to make that available to others to read (for that is what publishing is) is as strong today as ever. Neill published mostly religious books, including two editions of the Psalms which would have found a ready market among An Albion handpress of 1830 which was the people of Belfast. a refinement of the earlier wooden press. (Ten Point Press Kircubbin) The Psalms of David. Belfast: Patrick Neill, 1699. (Linen Hall Library) At this time all aspects of book production were done by hand. This meant that books were usually produced in small editions and were often expensive. However, such was the demand for books that by the late eighteenth century there were a number of printers and booksellers publishing not only in Belfast but in Derry (1735), Armagh (1745), Newry (1759) and Strabane (1771). At this time booksellers and printers were their own publishers, and like publishers today they had to estimate how many copies of a book they might expect to sell and also raise the capital to meet the initial cost of paper, type, ink and printing. One way of doing this was to publish by subscription, where An advert from the Belfast News-Letter buyers paid in advance. By this means a publisher for the publication by subscription in 1752 could estimate the number of copies he ought to of William Biggs, The Soldiers of Fortune print and also secure funds to meet upfront costs. to be published by Henry and Robert Joy. Newspapers often carried advertisements for (Linen Hall Library) books which were to be published by subscription. Publishing by subscription can still used today especially where a book relates to a particular society or location. LOCAL ublishing 18th & 19th CENTURIES Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the demand for books steadily increased. Many books were published locally and many were imported from England and the continent. The local newspapers carried advertisements for the stock of booksellers and printers, and reading societies were set up in towns and villages to encourage the sharing of resources. Of these societies the Belfast Reading Society survives to this day as the Linen Hall Library. One of Belfast’s leading publishers was James James Magee (1707-97) from Magee who between 1733 and 1790 offered an F.J. Bigger, The Magees of Belfast. extensive and wide-ranging list of titles at ‘The Bible and Dublin. Belfast, 1916. and Crown in Bridge Street’. (Linen Hall Library) The least expensive books were chapbooks, so-called because they were sold by chapmen or hawkers rather than through the book trade. They consisted of a single printed sheet folded to form a booklet. Mostly they contained popular tales or children’s stories and were illustrated by simple woodcuts. The Famous History of Hero and Leander. Strabane: A. Gamble, [1805]. (Linen Hall Library) In April 1847 two Belfast printers, Simms and M’Intyre, issued the first title in the Parlour Library, one of the most innovative publishing ventures of the nineteenth century. Their aim was to publish ‘a series of novels and tales by the most distinguished authors, at a price which will place them within the reach of the whole reading public’. They cost one shilling at a time when a novel cost five or six shillings. Simms and M’Intyre had a London office so the earliest titles bear the imprint London and Belfast. In 1853 they sold the series and the Belfast link was broken. Flyleaf of T.C. Grattan, Highways But the one hundred or so titles in their distinctive and Byways. Parlour Library no 7. green glazed-paper covers have assured London and Belfast: Simms their place as the forerunner of the and M’Intyre, [1848]. (Linen Hall Library) modern paperback. By the later years of the nineteenth century the technology of book production had changed radically. No longer was everything done by hand, and mechanisation saw more titles published in greater numbers and at lower costs. One of the most exciting developments was chromo- lithography, a method by which books could be printed in full colour, and in this one firm - Marcus Ward - stood out J.G Sowerby, At Home [In Verse]. from all others. Indeed on an London and Belfast: Marcus Ward, [1881]. international scale Marcus Ward (Belfast Public Libraries) was without equal, and deserves to be reckoned as one of Belfast’s greatest commercial achievements. Tantra Barbus an Irish chapman. LOCAL ublishing THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Quota Press The firm of Marcus Ward was wound up in 1899 and the twentieth century saw a number of publishing houses rise and fall, as well as many examples of what is often called ‘self-publishing’ (where an individual publishes his or her own work) and publishing by non-specialists (where a society or other organisation whose main activity is not publishing acts as it own publisher for a particular title). The Quota Press was the most productive publishing house in Belfast in the middle years of the twentieth century.It was run by a Miss Dora Kennedy from an office in Donegall Street, and between 1927 and 1954 more than one hundred Margaret S. Norris, Ebb titles were published. The titles included novels, poetry and Flow. Belfast: Quota and biography, and until the outbreak of the Second World Press, 1941. War most were printed in Guernsey in the Channel Islands. (Linen Hall Library) Thereafter the books were printed locally. Mourne Press As the name suggests the Mourne Press was based in Newcastle County Down where it produced a number of nicely printed books, some illustrated by woodcuts. Richard Rowley, Fifty Sonnets for Felicity. Newcastle, Co Down: Mourne Press, 1942. (Linen Hall Library) H.R. Carter Publications For a few years in the 1950s H.R.Carter published some handsomely produced titles. Brave Crack! includes early work by some of the best known Ulster writers; Lynn Doyle, Joseph Tomelty, Sam Hanna Bell and John Hewitt. Brave Crack! An Anthology of Ulster Wit and Humour. Belfast: H.R. Carter Publications, [1950]. (Private Collection) Self-published Love’s Entanglement is an example of a self-published title. No other work by this author or imprint is known. The design is influenced Self-published by the Quota Press books of the time. E.Gilmour, Love’s Entanglement. Belfast: Elmora Press, [1932]. (Private Collection) The poet Philip Larkin lived in Belfast between 1950 and 1955. In 1951 he self-published a collection of his poems which he had printed by the Belfast firm of R.Carswell. Only 100 were printed and few survive making it one of the rarest and most significant books printed in Belfast in the twentieth century. Philip Larkin, XX Poems. Belfast: The Author, 1951. (Private Collection) LOCAL ublishing THE PRESENT Blackstaff Press The last decades of the twentieth century have seen the growth of a vibrant local publishing scene and the establishment of a number of commercial houses. Developments in information technology put the design and production of a book within the competence of anyone with a personal computer, and this has led to an increase in the number of self-published books where author and publisher are one and the same. Founded in 1971 the Blackstaff press has to date published over 650 titles. Its first title was a book of political cartoons, and among the many awards it has won is the Sunday Times UK Small Publisher in 1992. Rowel Friers, Riotous Living: a Book of Cartoons. Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press Blackstaff Press, 1971. Begun in 1984 its publications are often based on collections of photographs of places and people throughout Ireland. Looking back: Photographs by Arthur Campbell 1939-60. Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press, 1989. Institute of Irish Studies Queen’s University Publishing was just one of the activities of the Institute of Irish studies and a number of important academic texts were published between 1981 and 2000. The late Ronnie Adams’s pioneering study of reading and literacy is one of the most notable. Ulster Historical J.R.R Adams, The Printed Word and the Common Man: Popular Foundation Culture in Ulster 1700-1900. Belfast: IIS, 1987. Founded in 1956 the UHF has produced a very strong list in all facets of local history. Among the most imaginative Self-published titles are the thirty or more lists of Gravestone Inscriptions which are an invaluable source for family history. This is one example of many where the author acts as his own publisher. R.J.S. Clarke (ed) Gravestone Inscriptions, Vol 1. Belfast: UHF, 1966. Cahir McKeown, Enniskillen Reminiscences. Enniskillen: The Author, 1993. Keeping track of local publications Northern Ireland Publications Resource Legal Deposit Under British legislation, one copy of every book, report or journal published in the United Kingdom must be sent to the British Library. Five other institutions may request a free copy within one year of publication: Bodleian Library Oxford, Cambridge University Library, Trinity College Dublin Library and the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales Most countries have system of legal deposit as a way of ensuring that the output of a nation’s publishing is preserved for posterity. Research carried out in 1998 suggested that only 40% of titles published in Northern Ireland were claimed under Legal Deposit.