It is always good in this world of large publishers who gobble up the smaller ones to see that these independent houses continue to flourish. I sometimes think that you have to be dedicated or mad or both to start off a venture such as this in the days of e-readers and computers, but still they come and prove to all of us who love books that there is an audience out there, one who will still buy and be interested in more than 3 for 2 offers.
So I was delighted to hear about Capuchin Press and to read this on their home page:
Capuchin Classics are "Books to Keep Alive".
A driving sense of discovery lies at the heart of Capuchin: reviving great works of fiction which have been unjustly forgotten or neglected. This founding ethos - restoring a richness to the canon in an era of relative blandness - is coupled by a sprinkling of well known favourites to form a series which holds wide appeal.
I was also delighted to spot amongst their very interesting list one of my all time favourite books by Elizabeth Goudge, Green Dolphin Country. This has been out of print for far too long and on receiving a copy spent a weekend wallowing in nostalgia as I recalled my reading of this as a teenager, my post is here. As a huge fan of this author I would be thrilled to bits if more of her works could be reprinted.
Then I read another gem, The Green Hatby Michael Arlen and posted about this extraordinary book. I have recently re-read Kidnapped by RL Stevenson, which has also been produced by Capuchin in its lovely format. I have never been able to get on with Treasure Island but loved Kidnapped, the story of David Balfour and the attempt by his uncle to kill him and cheat him out of his inheritance. I also remember finding Alan Breck with his motto 'Reck not' a totally fascinating character, one to appeal to a romantic teenage girl which is what I was when I read it. it was good to reacquaint myself with this terrific story again.
Then this morning, I was delighted yet again by a delivery of all these shiny and brand new just published titles and am thrilled to bits to be given the chance to read them all. The Tolstoy contains the Kreutzer Sonata which I have read, but not the other stories so new ground for me. My Tolstoy reading has been fairly limited and, apart from the aforementioned short story, War and Peace and Anna Karenina is all I know of this author, though I feel pleased that I have actually managed to finish War and Peace. I admit it was a struggle, but I got there.
My knowledge of HE Bates is also fairly limited, being on close terms with the Larkin family, first discovered when I was about 14 and adored, but he has written much much more so these stories will be interesting. Hugh Walpole, I know nothing about. I remember seeing his books on the shelves at Highgate Library in London where I worked many many years ago, but never ever saw them taken out and had no interest in them at all. Mr Perrin and Mr Traill seems to be set in a boy's boarding school, always a good place for a story so, once again, promising.
The Voyager by Charles Morgan is completely new ground for me, not that that is difficult to find. Apparently this won the James Tait Black memorial prize in 1940 and is described as on of the 'twentieth century's most moving love stories, it is Charles Morgan's homage to his beloved France'.
Capuchin Classic are beautifully produced, lovely paper and typeface (I find this matters a great deal to me, if a book is an object of beauty I am more well disposed to reading it) and the covers are so elegant in shades of pale and sage green and black (reproduction here does not do them justice). They are distinctive and pleasing to the eye and the touch, being smooth and good to feel and run one's hand over. The production values are high and chosen by somebody with an eye for good taste which reflects the writing within these covers.
Please do go and have a look at their web site here and you will see a lot of very interesting titles already in print and due in the next year (see there is an A A Milne there which interests me hugely). They also have a blog which has just been started and deserves lots of support from all readers and fellow bloggers and I have very happily placed this link on my blogroll.
Simon, over on Stuck in a Book, carried out an interview last year with the founder of this house, and I am going to ask him if he will send me the link so I can put it here as a gentle reminder that here is a publisher well worth our attention and support because it is producing simply sumptuous and fascinating books.
PS and here is the link - thank you Simon!
http://stuck-in-a-book.blogspot.com/2008/03/monkey-business.html
