Coracle Press Gallery - Publications
Publications 1975-1980
A complete list is in the 4 Years at Coracle Press catalogue.
I have chosen a few examples of Coracle day to day that stand out in my memory.
Richard Wilson -
Photographs by Mick Willamson
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A large table was bought from the second hand furniture shop and this became the collating table. The first major small publication was the box & artist’s cards for the Miniatures exhibition.
Brian Lane and I tackled the collation of the approximate 70 cards to be placed in the box by placing them around the edge. We did smoke in those days & we placed an ash tray in one corner & each had a glass of beer in the other. Collating became one of my roles at Coracle, others being to get the blocks from the printmakers in Old Street and taking the prints from Simon as they came off the press.
An exhibition of Artists Blocks were shown at Coracle 10 December to 1 January 1978.
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THE FO(U)NDLINGS
April 22 – June 9 1978
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The Fo(u)ndllngs was an equally complex collation in that the parcel tags used were then joined with a string which had to be fixed with a red parcel sealing wax & finally put in the box. The box had a small letterpress image of The Foundling by Rossetti on the lid top. This was done with such great force it broke the faithful butterfly press.
Seven postcards from the Fo(u)ndlings exhibition in 1978
The American poet Jonathan Williams had taken photographs artists over many years using poloid film. As a celebration of his 70th birthday a co-production of a selection of his photographs with texts by Jonathan was made by Coracle Press & an American publisher.
I had the task of sticking each photograph of 30 artists x 1,800 copies.
An edition of MDCCC with the first 50 copies specially bound & signed by Jonathan Williams.
These were in a beautiful blue linen slipcover. The remaining copies had a green cardboard slipcover.
However, for the American co-publication we went to New York on Freddy Laker, with the copies in 2 metal suitcases., part of a nest of cases – the smallest one being for our clothes.
There was a p.v. at Books & Co on Madison Avenue. Next to the Whitney.
At Coracle Press Gallery
The exhibition of the photographs:
JONATHAN WILLIAMS
PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHS
8 June to 2 July 1979
In 1979/1980 Simon Cutts was offered a two-semester contract to teach in Perth, Western Australia. Before leaving he selected the walnut wood for a limited edition box of sculptures by Richard Wilson.
Richard Wilson, Karl Simmons & I then worked on the edition.
Karl had been a help in the gallery for many years. He was a student at St Martin’s School of Art and was prepared to do any job in the gallery. He became a friend of Leonard McComb, who had an exhibition at Coracle ‘Blossoms and Flowers’ 22 September to 15 November 1979.
Coracle also published box set of colophon prints on ‘hand made paper, which Simon & I had purchased from a paper mill in central France.
WIND INSTRUMENTS
Richard Wilson 1980
A wooden box with 7 wire and paper scultptures.
The pieces were flat on indented hand made paper & then created as a sculpture by lifting & placing them on a surface. There is a photograph of one example in the 4 Years at Coracle catalogue.
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Shelagh Wakely had the concept of her book which was an elegy on her garden in Kentish Town. The garden was usually viewed from the top on an outbuilding roof, sitting there contemplating.
She had taken photographs on a square format camera over time & asked me to develop & print them for a book. I had ancient photographic equipment in my work room at Coracle but there was no water there, buckets were used to wash the prints..
However, I agreed & struggled with the very faint negatives to produce prints. These were not contrasty enough for Shelagh, but after another try they were used to make the images for the book. Along with Shelagh’s poetic texts.
An edition of 750 copies was published.
It is so green outside it is difficult to leave the window
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