During our firm of booksellers’ centenary last year, I sent out monthly reminiscences and reflections on my time in the trade. The March issue was about Private Presses, where I wrote this:
For many years we operated, for two American universities, Brigham Young (under the leadership of Scott Duvall) and Wisconsin-Madison (Yvonne Schofer), a ‘blanket order program’, which enabled us to support, to some extent, some of the extant presses as their books were published. We were empowered, up to a certain price limit, to supply whichever books we felt they should have. Thus we were in a position to buy two copies of each book from a given press knowing that we would sell them, and as often as not we would buy a third to offer elsewhere or in the hope that a private customer would pick it up.
The Indian artist Priya Pereira came to visit me in the shop some years ago with a selection of her outstanding, highly unusual and perfectly made books (sometimes stretching the definition of the word ‘book’). The blanket programs were still running but I couldn’t help very much as the books were created outside the UK, which was outside the remit. I liked them so much though that I bought a few for myself. She asked if I had any advice and what I said was that they were much, much too cheap – they would be taken more seriously if prices were higher. She followed that advice, her business grew, we became friends, she worked for the bookshop for a while, and she continues to send gifts (for our children when they were smaller, and now for me) at Christmas every year.
Of the books I purchased for myself, my favourite is probably the extraordinarily delicate and complex Ode to an Onion.
We are delighted and very honoured to be included now in Priya’s L Book.
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