A very small group of friends--writers, artists, editors among them--were sitting on a dock thinking about, among other things, the nature of publishing. It’s not news to anyone that publishing is growing both larger and smaller. There are fewer large conglomerates publishing more and more of today’s books. And as the economies of buying and selling rub up against the joined literary pleasures of
beauty and difficulty, a certain attrition occurs. There are, of course, many excellent books published each year--insightful, stylish, beautifully written, and compelling--which become quite well known. There are also many very popular books, marked by sales that would make an accountant giddy. There is some overlap. But more importantly, to our way of thinking, there is space within this landscape for books which can be both beautifully written, literarily compelling, and still unable to thrive in the marketplace: children who must be loved for their beauty and charm rather than for the money they resolutely fail to bring in. Under the influence of wine and sunlight we decided there might be a place for us within this shadowy region between fame and profit. No one needs a new press. The world has books aplenty. But if a new imprint comes along it must be driven by a combination of pride and humility, caution and a complete disregard for failure and embarrassment. You must create it with a combination of fire and ice, and then hope against hope you don’t end up with warm water. With the new digital publishing technologies and the emergence of e-books and online networks of readers, we thought it might be worth a try to see if a few dedicated obsessives might not make a place for themselves in, if not the business of publishing, at least the art of it. Not a large place, perhaps. We never imagined a large place. A little island we can call our own. It seemed to us an attractive idea, and perhaps even a manageable one, so we decided to try. Even after the wine wore off we remained convinced, and that, as anyone will tell you, is the true mark of a good idea. So here we are. We’re going to start slowly and see where it takes us. You’re very welcome to see where it takes us, too.
