Oak Tree Fine Press

ANTONY GORMLEY & THOMAS KENEALLY UNITE FOR CHARITY

2011-06-26T23:21:00.012+01:00

OAK TREE FINE PRESS

presents

SCHINDLER'S ARK

Luxury handbound limited editions signed by Thomas Keneally and beautifully presented together with signed Antony Gormley prints.

Available to purchase now, with all profits going to help children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.
Click here to go to website

'To be Continued...' Günter Grass

2010-03-02T13:19:00.003Z

Hi, I'm Chris and I'm currently an MA Publishing student at Oxford Brookes University. I have had the pleasure of working on the publication of the latest Oak Tree Fine Press Nobel Series book, Gunter Grass 'To be Continued...'. The Gunter Grass volumes are the second in the series following the release of Doris Lessing 'On not Winning the Nobel Prize' in 2008. The books will be available in two striking hand bound formats, each featuring an original woodcut frontispiece by Abigail Rorer and endpapers illustrated by the author. There will be 150 numbered slip cased volumes, quarter bound in cloth and 26 volumes fully bound in fine leather and lettered A-Z. All volumes have been signed by the author.

As with all Oak Tree Fine Press books, the profits from these editions will go to organizations assisting children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. Publication will be late March to early April so please keep an eye on our website http://www.oaktreefinepress.com/ for further details and to order any of our books.

End of year triumphs

2010-01-19T20:18:00.005Z

Despite Bruce's best bah-humbugs at the beautiful Oxford snowscapes, this was a winter to remember. Following the shortlisting of "On Not Winning the Nobel Prize" in the British Book Design Awards, we had our first ever stall at the Oxford Fine Press Book Fair, and in December were invited to hold a temporary exhibition for "A Outrance" at the prestigious Bodleian library. Those of you who were lucky enough to attend the launch will not quickly forget Philip Pullman's stunning reading of the great bear fight and how Iorek's victory roar echoed amid the heavy Gothic architecture of the Divinity School. (We took photos, but there are better ones on Andy English's blog here)
Many of the designer bindings for A Outrance can still be viewed on our website - with a very few still available to purchase! Once again - THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to making these wonderful books and helping raise money for our beneficiaries.
Coming soon - an update on our plans for the new decade!

2009-09-02T10:55:00.011+01:00

GREAT NEWS!

Oak Tree Fine Press have been shortlisted for the

British Book Design and Production Awards 2009.

It is a great honour to have been selected as finalists in these very prestigious awards and many congratulations must go to Nancy and Bruce for their publication of "On not Winning the Nobel Prize" by Doris Lessing. The Awards ceremony will be held on the 29th October at the Royal Lancaster Hotel and we wish them good luck for the evening.

The Awards are organised by the BPIF, Oxford Brookes University and The Publishers Association and they acknowledge the excellence of the British book design and production industry. Further info can be found on htp://www.britishbookawards.org/2009/shortlist_and _winners.asp

"On not Winning the Nobel Prize" was published in December 2008 and is a Letterpress edition of the Nobel Lecture presented to the Swedish Academy by the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007. There are a limited number of copies still available. Order one now. http://www.oaktreefinepress.com/

"To be Continued..." by Günter Grass is our second volume in this series and is due to be published later this year -check out our website for further details.

The First Chapter Series takes its place in the Booker Prize Archive

2009-08-25T14:14:00.004+01:00

One of Nancy's last duties back in June was to visit Oxford Brookes University Library with Bruce to present to them our First Chapter Series for their Booker Prize Archive.

The Library became the permanent home of the Booker Prize Archive in 2003 and now encompasses the administrative history of the Prize from 1968 to date. The collection includes a diverse range of material, including correspondence, publicity material, copies of both the Longlists and the Shortlists, minutes of meetings, photographs and material relating to the awards dinner (letters of invitation, guest lists and seating plans).

Items from the Archive were included in the exhibition 'The Booker 40 at the V&A' which ran from 6 September 2008 to 17 May 2009 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Booker Prize. Perhaps for its 50th we might be lucky enough to get our books included in the exhibition!

There to accept the donation was the Subject Librarian for Publishing, Chris Fowler, together with Dr.Helen Workman (Director of Learning Resources), Eleanor Rossart (Archivist) and Sally Hughes ( Senior Lecturer in Publishing). A pleasant morning out of the office for Nancy and Bruce.

Further information about the Archive can be found on the University website or by direct link: www.brookes.ac.uk/library/speccoll/booker.html

Bird flies the Oak Tree Nest

2009-06-19T11:02:00.002+01:00

After one and a half splendid years at Oak Tree Fine Press, I am off to South America, to work for Guyra Paraguay, one of Paraguay's largest conservation organisations, helping them with their funding proposals and so on. I'll be staying in touch, and am relying on Bruce and Susan to keep me informed on all our books and projects! I've had an unbelievably wonderful time and met so many lovely and interesting people, so if any of you want to keep in touch, you can contact me on nbray6 (AT) yahoo.co.uk! Good luck to you all!

LATEST EDITION

2009-06-11T11:50:00.002+01:00

Oops sorry!! I meant to say latest addition - to the OTFP family. Nancy is off to Paraguay at the end of this month and I will be trying to fill her chair. This will not be an easy task! Despite Nancy being very slender it is a very big chair to fill!! Anyway I'll have a bash.
Speak to you soon!
Susan

No more Death after Life!

2009-05-27T10:43:00.005+01:00

Following on from a feature in The Times yesterday, courtesy of the very charming Derwent May, all our large copies of Gilbert & George's Life after Death are now sold out!

Smaller prints are still available here

Sign up for updates on Oak Tree Fine Press Art - including more Gilbert & George collaborations - here

To be Continued....

2009-05-18T10:37:00.003+01:00

"It is a fact of life that writers have always and with due consideration and great pleasure spit in the soup of the high and mighty."

Coming soon: a signed limited edition of Günter Grass' acerbic Nobel Lecture, To be Continued...

with engravings by Abigail Rorer

J. M. Coetzee comes to Oxford!

2009-05-15T14:52:00.004+01:00

J. M. Coetzee is coming to Oxford in June! We will be going to hear him at the Sheldonian Theatre on the 11th, and he has also generously agreed to sign some books for us to help raise funds! To celebrate, here, from the archives, is a video of him signing title pages for us at the former Oak Tree Fine Press base in South Africa:

For details of the JM Coetzee event at the Sheldonian, click here.

Air - Water - Fire - Earth

2009-05-14T16:15:00.006+01:00

Had a couple of chaps from Oxfam in the office earlier this week. Oxfam are producing four small paperback publications featuring new and extract texts from numerous well known authors. They are also considering doing a special signed collector's edition and came round to ask for advice. It was pretty heartening to realise how much we have learned over the last few years, and Andy Ray and Frank Atterbury were also both on hand to give expert guidance. Looking forward to seeing what you do, Oxfam!

In Perfect English: Woodcuts & Polar Bears

2009-04-28T10:23:00.004+01:00

Like polar bears? Love Philip Pullman? Crazy for fantastic woodcuts? If so, be sure to check out Andy English's blog . Andy is one of three woodcut artists who have contributed original woodcut artwork for Philip Pullman's A Outrance.
For a step by step look at how he created his incredible images, check out his blog here.

PS - The other woodcut artists working on the book are Chris Daunt and Harry Brockway.
PPS - sorry about the blisters, Andy

Beside the sea!

2009-04-27T15:11:00.008+01:00

Oak Tree Fine Press has received a wonderful report from volunteers at Thusong Children’s Centre in Kimberley, South Africa, in which they describe a trip to the seaside over the Easter Break. Fifty four children from the Centre visited the beach, went on a coastal walk with other kids from a local children’s centre, went shopping in the huge Port Elizabeth mall, enjoyed a game drive at Addo Elephant Park, went on an airport-tour, ate a lot of good food, competed in a dance-off at a specially organised disco and even caught a dolphin show at the Bayworld Aquarium!

“We worked hard to make this trip happen because we wanted to give our children the opportunity to get a bigger world view. Most of the kids have never been on holidays or seen the ocean before. It was great for them to swim in the sea and explore a different part of their beautiful country.”

Oak Tree Fine Press is a longstanding supporter of Thusong Children’s Centre and, with your help, assisted in funding the travel for this trip.

From tiny seeds grow mighty oaks... kinda...

2009-04-21T17:05:00.002+01:00

Following on from Bruce's interview with Jo Thoenes on BBC Radio Oxford (see here), we are now featured on the BBC website under the surprising headline 'Seeds of Change'. We were even the feature story on bbc.co.uk/england for one glorious day! This is fantastic stuff, even if the article does suggest that we're married (wanna see a picture of Bruce and Nancy Bray, anyone?) and that Bruce both started the company and subsequently joined it... All good laughter fodder for a sunny Monday. To read the article click here.

Oligarch editions?!!!

2009-04-03T11:41:00.004+01:00

Drawing your attention to a funky little item on the First Chapter Series by Magers & Quinn Booksellers. As "the biggest independent bookstore in Minneapolis" I think they can afford our books! A very funny blog which doesn't hold back on the sarcasm, so it's good to see we get the thumbs up!

Man Booker Website

2009-04-03T09:42:00.007+01:00

Just a quick note to point out that we've got some pretty good coverage of our Booker Prize First Chapter Series on the Man Booker Website. We're really inspired by the way they've taken an interest in our Series and got behind us with loads of support. Their website contains loads of interesting interviews, articles and discussions related to the Booker Prize, and it's great to see our books included.

WANTED: Designer Bookbinders...

2009-03-24T14:11:00.007Z

A very limited number of copies of Philip Pullman's À Outrance will be hand bound by the best Designer Bookbinders around. Designer Bookbinders are involved (they do prize bindings for Man Booker) and these books are going to be just about as amazing as they come!

If you know anyone with exceptional bookbinding skills who might be interested in working on this unique charity project, please get in touch for further details. Experts from the US , Europe and further afield are more than welcome! (example photo is a binding in goatskin and gold leaf by Christopher Shaw)

RADIO STAR

2009-03-17T15:49:00.006Z

Bruce was interviewed on BBC Radio Oxford yesterday - on the Jo in the Afternoon show. I think it makes for a pretty excellent introduction to Oak Tree Fine Press, so please do listen to it on BBC iplayer here

Jo Brand, slippers and a fag

2009-03-13T15:00:00.002Z

Crazy day today! The Gilbert and George prints are selling like mad! The key reason seems to be a new thread posted by trapnel on the Banksy forum site here. THANKS TRAPNEL! All good stuff until the thread degenerates into idle speculation on what the lovely people at the end of the phone at Oak Tree Fine Press might look like...

Line of Beauty

2009-03-03T09:55:00.004Z

We have just released Volume VII of the First Chapter Series: The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst with signed artwork (Death after Life) by Gilbert and George. This is such a perfect match I can't believe the two haven't been brought together before (have they?) On a slightly shallower note, I really love the blue cover, which were chosen to match the original first edition book. Check out the books and prints here

Books in Brackets

2009-03-03T09:45:00.004Z

So much news and so little time... Have just sent off my article to the editor of the American Parenthesis, the official journal of the Fine Press Book Association. Will let you know when it is appearing...

Reflecting Midnight's Children

2009-01-20T16:44:00.004Z

Wanted: thoughtful suggestions for artwork and artists for the following books:

Schindler's Ark

Vernon God Little

Midnight's Children

Selecting art for our books is a rewarding process, and I love exploring the links, contrasts and questions thrown up by the pairings, even after the decision has been made. For example, what was it in Margaret Atwood's novel that moved Yoko Ono to contribute her drawing? Or how do our responses to the work of Jo Ractliffe and Colbert Mashile echo or contradict our response to J. M. Coetzee's text?

As we plan the publication of new titles in this series, we want to ensure that future editions will offer a commentary as valuable and fascinating, with artwork to match the creativity contained in the world's greatest contemporary literature. We're currently looking for artists for the books listed above - so get in touch if you think you know the perfect match!

Happy new year!

2009-01-20T16:08:00.002Z

Had a wonderful day in London last week, meeting up with the good folks of Hurtwood Press to discuss plans and designs for an upcoming title. Andy English was also there, contributing ideas, and I spent a lovely afternoon with him at the British Library at St Pancras, investigating old manuscripts.

Back in the office, we've been processing all your orders - no complaints there! Keep them coming! - and working on the final stages of production and the marketing for The First Chapter Series Volume VII: Line of Beauty. This moving Booker award-winning title by Alan Hollinghurst is accompanied by a stunning signed print by from Gilbert & George, the in/famous art duo whose work recently formed the largest retrospective of any artist held at Tate Modern.

I'm also trying to put together an article on our work for Parenthesis, the journal for the Fine Press Books Association. Hopefully we'll see it published in issue 17...

!!!HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

2008-12-19T09:35:00.005Z

and thanks for all your support over the past year!

Telegraph feature for Doris Lessing book!

2008-12-15T11:20:00.002Z

We were featured in the Telegraph today!

Good feedback at the end of a busy day!

2008-12-03T17:48:00.002Z

"I received the book today and am immensely pleased with it, it is a fine addition to my Coetzee collection, which spans about 20 first editions now, eight of which are signed, I will consider carefully some of the other books on the list you gave me, as upgrades for some of my unsigned copies, and will be in touch soon.

Thanks again and I hope the interests which your company follow are going well." - Purchaser of signed 1st edition of 'In the Heart of the Country'.

ON EBAY NOW!!!

2008-11-28T14:25:00.025Z

***Tolkien's Children of Húrin SIGNED by ALAN LEE***

***with ORIGINAL PENCIL SKETCH***!!!!!!Absolutely UNIQUE opportunity!!!!!

Up now on ebay:

A first edition deluxe copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's
Children of Húrin
SIGNED by ALAN LEE
ORIGINAL pencil sketch of Elf by Alan Lee on front endpaper

Click here for info/bidding

To help raise money for children with HIV/AIDS, artist Alan Lee has drawn and signed a stunning pencil sketch of Túrin on the front endpaper of this deluxe first edition copy of Tolkien's Children of Húrin.

Alan Lee is the world famous Tolkien illustrator who earned an Oscar for his work as a conceptual designer on Peter Jackson's film trilogy of The Lord of the Rings.

The Children of Húrin reunites fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, Eagles and Orcs. The Húrin legends made up the third "Great Tale" of J R R Tolkien's Middle-earth writing. Tolkien's son has carefully collected these legends into a complete story told only in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien. For anyone who has read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, The Children of Húrin allows them to take a step back into a larger world, an ancient land of heroes and vagabonds, honour and jeopardy, hope and tragedy.

This first edition of The Children of Húrin from publisher HarperCollins is illustrated by Alan Lee, who was already well-known for his Tolkien illustrations in previous editions, before his Oscar-winning work as conceptual designer for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy brought him even greater acclaim.

For more information on The Children of Húrin, click here

All proceeds of sale go to organisations offering care and support to children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS

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2008-11-25T18:20:00.001Z

Working up some text for the Doris Lessing part of the website today. Experimented with the marketing for this book - facebook marketing, mail outs, PR, etc. Seems to be going well and we have a good few pre-publications orders already.

Check out our new Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Oak-Tree-Fine-Press/97925420643?ref=mf

2008-08-02T01:41:00.000+01:00

Today we were visited by Maggie Hartford of the Oxford Times, and we are looking forward to a write-up of Oak Tree Fine Press this September. Maybe I will post it here! Fortunately, I didn't have to do much talking - Bruce took care of all that - but I was in the photos, posing over a book. I remembered this morning a conversation I had with Jericho buddies in Feb, dreaming up goals for things to do while in Oxford, and getting my photo in the local press was one of them - awesome success!

Goals for time in Oxford :

photo in local press -a
college ball - a
supper at high table - r
varsity ice hockey - a
membership of Quod -r
...?