Tag Archives: biographies

Guest post: John Dewey reviews the life of Rosa Newmarch

Rosa Newmarch (1857-1940) was an extraordinary woman of many talents – ‘une femme inoubliable’ as Sibelius once called her, a phrase adopted by Lewis Stevens as the title of this fascinating biography published by Matador in 2011.  She achieved considerable … Continue reading

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Biography’s unheard dimension

Biography is words. Personally, I hear words when I am writing rather than being focussed on their soundless written form — which is probably why I am less than 100% consistent in my presentation of the hieroglyphs on paper. I … Continue reading

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Guest post: Sam2 on… ‘How to Typeset a Book’ (Part 2)

“Pages… Pages EVERYWHERE!” ————— In the previous entry I went over some fundamentals of self typesetting. I want to point out that those techniques were merely what I had used myself…that is, how it appeared logical to me to do … Continue reading

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Guest post: Sam2 on… ‘How to Typeset a Book’ (Part 1)

She shuffled forward. “I would…” “Speak up!” “I would like you to…” “Yeeeeeesssss?” “I would like you to typeset this.” A messy wad of pages; some in different colours, some upside down, some not in any recognisable language. “You would … Continue reading

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The tome weighs in

Here is what I believe to be the first side view of the newly printed biography: This is the heaviest book in every sense that I shall ever write… Pre-publication orders continue to flow in from loyal followers of this blog, … Continue reading

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Interlude on a familiar theme

Clays have pleasantly surprised me by discovering that they have over-printed by not 20 copies, which is the number under/over contractually allowed, but 59 — which they offer me at an extraordinarily good price including free delivery. I have snapped … Continue reading

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Thank you!

We are two-thirds of our way through sending out advance, review and complimentary copies all over the world, and have received many plaudits for the appearance and even ‘beauty’ of the book, as well as overwhelming approval of the in-text … Continue reading

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The Announcement

  We have now received the book in Cambridge — and we think Clays Ltd have done a superb job! Any flaws you notice will be of the author’s making; Clays have printed to the last foreign font and idiosyncrasy … Continue reading

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pre-Announcement announcement

Sam&Sam have embraced Ian Strathcarron’s kind advice to allow three months for marketing my book. The official date of publication, therefore, is 7 September. Shortly before that, a separate web-page and checkout will be available for buying the book online. … Continue reading

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So a second edition, then…

It would have been almost too dull if there had been no dramas with Clays the printers in the final run-up to production last week, but I must admit I wasn’t expecting basic technical questions to erupt concerning the jacket … Continue reading

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Is it Cricket?

For years, one of the most pleasurable things about the parish magazine I am sent from my home town has been the monthly book review by a retired bishop. It is about 350 words long and his range of reading … Continue reading

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A ‘funny’ moment

Idly doing my housework, as one does, I suddenly realised that my nylon ‘feather’ duster had whisked over Kittie’s surviving suitcase without my even noticing it. I paused and by reflex put my hand on the case. Why I did … Continue reading

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What I have learned about today’s books

After, in effect, four sets of proofs since March, we uploaded the complete PDF file of the book to the printers (Clays of St Ives) three days ago, five days before the deadline. There will be no celebrating, however, until … Continue reading

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Word and image

One of the many, many benefits to me of this blog has been what I would go so far as to call the ‘democracy’ of it: the fact that it stands open to feedback and Comment from you, its subscribers, … Continue reading

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Tense, moi?

If you sensed unwonted stress at the end of my previous post, you were right. When I decided at the beginning of January that we would bring out the book in six months, I calculated that as ‘the beginning of … Continue reading

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DnA

Longer-term followers of Calderonia will be aware of my preoccupation with Edwardian ‘dilettantism’ and ‘amateurism’. Laurence Binyon, Martin Shaw and Percy Lubbock went out of their way to stress that George was not a dilettante, and the word ‘amateur’ was … Continue reading

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