THE REPORTER:
Jacoby Endowment Starts The Presses
At a college that attracts writers young and old to its O'Neill
Literary House and that boasts the nation's largest undergraduate
literary prize, it seems only fitting that publishing and book
arts flourish here as well. After a brief hiatus, The Literary
House Press, a small publishing venture launched by creative
writing professor Bob Day and two friends of the College who
have since passed away, is rolling again, thanks to a revitalized
board of directors and an infusion of cash. Richard Harwood,
as executive editor, and Maureen Jacoby, as managing editor,
had driven many of the Literary House Press projects since the
Press's founding in 1992. Jacoby, who served on the board of
the Literary House Press after a career with the Smithsonian
Institution Press, left the College $200,000 to endow the Literary
House Press; her bequest was matched by The Hodson  Trust.
The money will be used in part to support future publishing
projects. With this infusion, the Press will maintain its original
mission to focus on the heritage of the Eastern Shore and its
writers.
Bea Harwood, Richard Harwood's widow, agreed to serve on the
Board of Directors, which also includes Adam Goodheart, a writer,
historian and a C. V. Starr Fellow serving as director of the
Press, James Dissette '71, a former Sophie Kerr Prize winner,
poet and publisher specializing in fine book arts, and Ted Widmer,
director of the C. V. Starr Center for the American Experience.
Remaining on the Board are Bob Day, professor of English and
creative writing, Meredith Davies Hadaway, vice president for
college relations, and John Parker '55.
"We think
the Press has the potential to be a real asset to many different
parts of the College community," Goodheart said. "We'll be giving
students, faculty, staff and alumni opportunities to do everything
from writing books, to designing and illustrating them, to learning
about the business side of publishing. This will be not just
a creative venture, but an entrepreneurial one."
In fact, the revived Press' first two projects bring together
local and national talent. Its first book will be a limited-edition
printing of John Barth's Browsing, an essay he delivered as
a speech at Washington College in 1992 to mark the shelving
of the 200,000th volume in Miller Library. The  monograph,
designed by Dissette, is being printed by hand on the College's
antique letterpress and bound in Minnesota, using handmade paper
and old type from a foundry in New York. Chestertown artist
Mary Rhinelander created several linoleum cuts to illustrate
the piece. Washington College senior Heidi Atwood '04 worked
with Barth and Dissette to prepare the text for publication.
The Press will produce 150 limited edition copies of Browsing,
50 of which will be signed by the author.
"This will
set a high benchmark for the type of work we do in the future,"
Dissette observes. "It will be marketed specifically to universities
with special collections and to bookstores that sell limited
editions."
Also in the works in a revised edition of Maryland's Eastern
Shore: A Guide for Wanderers, which the Press first published
in 1997, with text by Mary Corddry, an acclaimed travel writer.
For the new edition, Goodheart is soliciting short essays on
Eastern Shore locales written by members of the Washington College
community, turning the book into a collegiate publishing venture
in the tradition of the Berkeley Guides and Harvard's Let's
Go series. Students in Goodheart's spring course on travel writing
will also contribute to the volume. To order books from the
Literary House Press, contact jparker2@washcoll.edu.
To learn more about getting involved in the Press's publishing
ventures, contact agoodheart2@washcoll.edu.
PHOTO:
This linoleum cut of author John Barth is one of several works
Mary Rhinelander created for the Literary House Press edition
of Barth's essay, Browsing. |
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