trout

The Private Press

Wandering through the new acquisitions
that still need cataloguing some major names.

The first English novel, Euphues and his England
by Lyly, nicely rebound in morocco. Anne came up once --

before I worked here -- to read Swell
which I haven't looked at yet. I like very much

our facsimile of Ernest Shackleton's Aurora
Australis which was printed in the Antarctic.

The expedition sledded the press down there
with huskies around 1908, bound the limited edition

in packing cases and sealskin. We have an
imitation copy of Turnbull's Julienne Soup edition --

I wonder if there's an Irish Stew somewhere too.
The frontispiece, the aurora, is an eyecatching blue.

I use this anecdote to emphasise not only the artistry
of printers, but also what an intrepid business it is.