Barbarian Press

We founded Barbarian Press in Boughton Monchelsea, Kent, in 1977, having conceived a love for beautifully printed books and a determination to see what we could do ourselves in that line. We were trained in letterpress printing by Graham Williams at the Florin Press, and in 1978 we returned to Canada with presses and type and established the press... on five wooded acres in Steelhead, British Columbia, near Mission, about 50 miles east of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley. Initially the press occupied an old shed on the property, but in 1988 leaking roofs, collapsing floors and overcrowding forced a change, and the barn was converted into a 1,000 square foot shop containing a pressroom and composing room. Barbarian Press is a full-time operation for both of us. Publication decisions and editing are shared, but generally the design and typesetting are done by Crispin, and the presswork by Jan. Initially the type for the books was entirely set by hand, but in the last few years we have occasionally bought in composition as a means of increasing our holdings of type. In 1996 we acquired a hand bindery which is housed in a wing off the main shop, and some of the binding is now done at the press, although most is still contracted out. The first book bound in-house was the 1996 publication Rufinus: The Complete Poems, which won the Alcuin Society Citation for Excellence in Book Design in Canada. Inishbream, a novella by Theresa Kishkan with wood engravings by John DePol, was published in 1999, and the binding of the regular and deluxe states of that edition were both carried out at the press under the direction of the award-winning Québecois binder Hélne Francur. Other titles, among them 21 Small Songs, Gallipoli, the portfolio Under Strange Sail, and the components of The Seasons have also been produced here, but most of our binding now is done by Alanna Simenson at The Mad Hatter Bookbinding Company in Sooke, B.C. Barbarian Press remains an entirely letterpress operation. Our ten presses include three 19th century ...Read More