Thursday, April 10, 2008

DISAPPEARING NEW ZEALAND IMPRINTS

Following the list from Brian Phillips posted on the blog on Monday when I asked for others to add any names they could think of the following responses have been received:

From David Bateman:
Here’s my list: Fontana Silver Fern (totally local though Collins UK allowed us to use Fontana)
Dunmore Press
Crump Publications, Auckland (Barry Crump self publishing)
Harlen Publishing Ackld (Loosehead Len self publishing)
Collins Publishers, P.O. Box 1, Ackld (published Atlases and school text books before the turn of the 20th century, possibly one of NZ’s earliest publishers))

Interesting how two of NZ’s icons established their own imprints before being taken over by publishers.

From Chris Price:
Caxton still exists as a business, I think, but does it do any publishing?

From Gavin McLean:
There’s a book in this one! Just glancing around, the office, I can see Minerva, Hazard Press (body still warm), Thomas Avery (New Plymouth), Australia & NZ Book Co, Millwood Press, Rowfant Books, Fourth Estate Books….

From Penny Scown:
Hodder & Stoughton
Ashton Scholastic!

From David Elworthy:
Again, off the top of my head...

Hodder & Stoughton
Associated Book Publishers
Hicks Smith
Sweet & Maxwell
Methuen
Fourth Estate
Alister Taylor
Hazard
Heinemann
Pan (?)
Hutchinson
Butterworth (?)
South Pacific

From Chris Else:
Depends how far back you want to go. In my library I have fiction and poetry published by

Hawk Press
Voice Press
The Pilgrims South Press

All published books after 1980.

Further back (late 70s) there is Hampson Hunt
And further back still, Robert Lowry’s Pilgrims Press and Mermaid Press.

In addition there are a number of imprints like Daphne Brasell and Wait te Ata Press, which one doesn’t really see any more. Whether they are defunct or not, I don’t know.

From Christine O'Brien:
Just thinking v quickly about imprints / presses / publishers that have gone
Port Nicholson Press
New Women’s Press
Price Milburn
University of New Zealand Press

From Jeff Grigor:
Brian may be a little premature in listing Bush Press and John Mcindoe ceasing to exist as live imprints.
In February of this year John McIndoe published a revised edition of Joan Bishop's excellent NZ Crockpot and Slow Coooker Cookbook.
A recent publication by Bush Press is Warkworth to the Coast.

Memo to Brian Phillips - Brian perhaps you could now do a merge of these names along with your own original list and come back to the blog with a new complete list?
And Brian, better add the Spiral Collective who were the original publishers of THE BONE PEOPLE, one of NZ's biggest ever selling novels, and of course the author Keri Hulme remains the only NewZealander to have won the Booker Prize.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:11 am

    OK, we'll try again; 'the bone people' is THE most successful work of fiction published in Aotearoa/NZ
    -a publishing cabal refuses to acknowledge this - bad cess to them and all they do - I would do the sourcing but i am getting tired of their fuckwit blocks - go die ancient fellas go die-

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  2. Anonymous10:19 pm

    What a jolly strange comment, dear Anon. Now what was it Dr Johnson said will make a man mistake words for thought?

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  3. Anonymous8:56 pm

    Just a note, Pan still exists- it is part of the Macmillan stable (or Pan Macmillan in the UK and Australia). It denotes the paperback category (both fiction and non-fiction),

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  4. David Bateman reports in your pages the demise of ‘Dunmore Press’.

    All it can say, with Samuel Clements, is that ‘The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.’

    Dunmore Publishing continues to thrive. Recent publications include:

    The Problem of Prisons (Greg Newbold)
    Crisis of Identity? The Mission and Management of New Zealand Universities (Malcolm & Tarling)
    Understanding China - Building Bridges for Business Success (Ed Weymes)
    Facing the Challenge - Foundation Learning for Adults in Aotearoa New Zealand (Benseman & Sutton)
    Supporting the Journey of Recovery in Mental Health (Caril Cowan)

    and we have a busy publishing programme ahead of us.

    Sharmian Firth,
    Dunmore Publishing Ltd,
    P.O. Box 25080,
    Wellington.
    http://www.dunmore.co.nz/

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  5. Apologies to Sharmian Firth at Dunmore Press. Brian Phillips will at some stage compile a new list taking note of all the comments made and I am certain he will ensure that Dunmore Press is not included in the list of those imprints that have disappeared!

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