Saturday 26 November 2011

Mark Valentine: Book Collector

We have posted a short film on Youtube that should be of interest to those familiar with Tartarus Press, Mark Valentine, and some of the authors we have published over the years:



In the video, Mark discusses the following writers: Arthur Machen, Walter de la Mare, Lord Dunsany, M.P. Shiel, William Gerhardie, R. Austin Freeman, William Hope Hodgson, Algernon Blackwood, Hubert Crackanthorpe, H.A. Manhood, Claude Houghton, E.E. Dorling, David Lindsay, Ronald Fraser, Park Barnitz, Norman Boothroyd, Francis Brett Young, Sarban, W.F. Morris, Denton Welch, Oliver Onions, Eric Lyall, Peter Vansittart, J.C. Snaith, Mary Butts, Frank Baker and Phyllis Paul. He ends with a discussion of the classic "British Rainfall, 1910".

3 comments:

  1. I'm already trying to dig out some of the authors he mentions.

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  2. What a wonderful life, to live in that apartment and dream over those books!

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  3. I agree with Mark Valentine's preference for having books in their original editions. The old age of the publication holds "imprisoned" something of the ancient spirit of the text. And the paper stock and the type & print settings represent that specific quality and state of mind associated with the times in which the book was written.

    However, in some cases I like new prints, when they are well made (that even includes a few print-on-demand publishers with loving efforts), to stand side by side to the older books in my collection. And I am not saying this as an unconscious excuse for not being able to afford the old editions (although it's true I can't afford all of them). If there is some connection and harmony of form and color, the old and new can actually dynamically enhance each other, the new appearing fresh as a spring flower, and the original edition by contrast even more ancient and soulful, like an old cottage or chateau in the forest.

    There is also a spiritual quality in loving the new, knowing it will someday grow old with character.

    Print-on-demand is, besides, principally a very sensible idea, that I heartily endorse.

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