Poetry, book design and typography working together.

It was an issue of some importance among private presses in the 1930s, expressed and addressed in passing by Frances Meynall of the Nonsuch Press: if poetry is better read slowly for sense, rhythm and understanding, how can the publisher assist by designing a book that slows the reader?  Part of Meynall’s answer was to use italics, but we wonder if that goes quite far enough.

Nancy Campbell’s poem, Song for the small hours, was published in the Spectator in 2022, and is printed here for the first time as a separate piece.  Presented as unadorned typography, and deliberately set to add another answer to Meynell’s concern.  We think it works very well; although our answer could be applied to any poem, here it works to perfection, so long as you are willing and able to let it. 

The edition is of 140 copies, 80 on Zerkall paper and the balance on hand made paper from the Two Rivers mill at Watchett in Somerset.  All copies are signed by the author below her new introduction.  The poem and title page use Baskerville types, the introduction and colophon are set in Bell.  This is a poem about letter writing, so all copies are sewn onto re-used vellum strips from old legal documents.  This is a non-adhesive binding, using a heavy card from Two Rivers.

Nancy Campbell writes poetry, essays and non-fiction books.  Her poetry book, Uneasy Pieces, was published by Guillemot in 2022 and Thunderstone, a memoir of love, loss and a vintage caravan available since last year in hardback, is newly available in paperback, published by Elliot and Thompson.