“Hugh Barclay’s Insights on ‘Chapter books’&
Making Chaps”
Edited from correspondence with Joseph LaBine
—Sept. 24, 2013—
…I would offer to come
down and speak to a group about private press books, broadsides and ephemeral
as I'm sure they would find it interesting. I look forward to receiving a few
of the chap books Flat Singles Press has produced. You may find this interesting; the
phrase chap book refers to a thin book by today's standard. However, the phrase
has roots in a time when books were published and sold in Britain by the
chapter. These were, by nature, thin books and were sold by nice chaps door to
door. The house wife could afford a few cents to purchase one and buy the next
chapter the following month. I think that some of Dickens' serialized books were
sold by this method.
Many of these are concepts
that I have never consider. Often I consider a text as a definitive element and
rather than a continuum. I see books as a package for ideas and as such my goal
is to design a package to express those ideas. Books are open-ended problems,
being those problems that don't have a right or wrong answer or a better or
worse element. These ideas make me think that we should invent a new phrase for
narrow poetry books as Chap-ter books clearly refer to prose. Of course this is
a mammoth undertaking to re-educate the world but that has been part of my
life's work.
*
In my opinion, there
are only three ways to learn; read a book, have someone demonstrate it to you,
or simply jump in and get your feet wet by doing the thing.[1]
The latter is by far the best way to learn, however, when it comes to setting
type and printing, these activities have a habit of becoming addictive because
this is where you get your "highs."
In addition, a
composing stick doesn't have a spell check or auto correct. Furthermore, when
you attempt to tell others what a great activity setting type and printing on
handmade paper is you will find that they glaze over or look at you quizzically
as if to ask, "You stupid man, haven't you heard about a word
processor"? Now I've hogged the
floor which I tend to do (sometimes).
—Oct. 10, 2013—
I was just out for
dinner and this gave me an opportunity to think of some other things that might
enhance this discussion of chap books. You may be aware that the National
Library of Canada considers anything with eight pages or more a book. We all use
the term chap books to refer to these thin books.
Under the Library Act, I am obliged to submit one
copy of any book I print if the print run is under 100 and 2 copies if it is
over. I have done this consistently, for two reasons: the author deserves to be
in the National Library and to do otherwise is saying to the author I don't
think you belong in the National Library. The second reason is that any book is
part of the mosaic of Canadian culture and the job of the Library and Archives
is to preserve our heritage, at least until Stephen Harper became Prime
Minister. I am quite aware that most of the private presses don't submit books
and this is because feel that they are losing money. However, that is their
business. I expect that many of Phil Hall's Flat Singles Press
books were never submitted to the National Library and the result is that they
are lost forever. Does the Press submit books now?[2]
[1] The
thing Barclay
refers to here is the actual Chandler & Price manual typesetter he uses to
make chapbooks for Thee Hellbox Press.
[2] An excerpt from the “Colophon”
section of Thee Hellbox book, X, best
illuminates Barclay’s argument regarding the National Library Archive. He
writes “The Canadian government has slashed funding to Library and Archives
Canada to such an extent that it no longer has the ability to function.
Archival material is being refused. I have waited six months to receive a
simple acknowledging receipt for legal deposit books. I understand that one is
required to wait six months to see an archivist. The wait times must be
frustrating to researchers, academics and graduate students. This is our
heritage that is being lost. Press for responsible government” (Barclay with
Hall and LaRose).
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