Sandstone Press

Changing seasons

Posted by RLD on 13th April 2009

The first veteran car of the year chugged and banged its way past Sandstone Towers the other day.  This is how winter turns to spring in the Highlands.  The geese depart.  The swallows arrive.  Cars with their bonnets belted down are steered north by drivers with silk scarves flying from their necks.

The first quarter of the year is gone in a blink.  Sandstone has published two books already and memories are accumulating.  Our Director, Iain Gordon showed his musical mettle at FICKLE MAN launches, singing and speaking at Burns events.  Our partners at THE DROUTH report a good reception in Glasgow and sales suggest the book is being read, and appreciated, well furth of both areas.  Not content with that, we intend to take the book to Orkney later in the year.

CAIRNGORM JOHN is also out, and has already found its own public.  We had to reprint after only a week and this without a review so far.  Radio and television have been quicker to respond and Nicola McAlley’s interview with John Allen can be accessed through the NEWS section on our HOME PAGE.  Last time I looked CAIRNGORM JOHN was sitting at #4 in the Amazon mountaineering list, the highest placed hardback by some way.

This week we bring out AT THE EDGE: Walking the Atlantic Coast of Ireland and Scotland by Joseph Murphy.  Circumstances have dictated there will be less of a fanfare than usual but I think the sheer quality of the book will carry it to its readership.  The book has a substantial geographic overlap with Kenneth White’s ON THE ATLANTIC EDGE.  I will leave it to others to find the similarities and differences between the two books.  Like Kenneth, Joseph is an academic who gets off his behind, attaching his thinking as much to direct experience and personal contact as to the library.  Reviews and articles will follow so keep your eyes open.

The book appears in the larger-than-usual paperback format we have been, to some extent, specialising in.  We think it makes for a more striking appearance and gives the book the look of worth its contents merit, something like the white space around a poem.

Thomas Gravemaker, of Gravemaker + Scott in Edinburgh, designed the cover.  It is his second for Sandstone, following FICKLE MAN.  Recently we have been getting some very positive feedback on our covers.  This is an area we have concentrated on very strongly and the three so far this year, FICKLE MAN and AT THE EDGE by Thomas, CAIRNGORM JOHN by Latte Goldstein of River Design in Edinburgh, should give some idea of our refusal to compromise on quality.  Indeed, of our intention to achieve new standards.

The feeling we get from reading this book, and from working with Joseph over so many months, is one of something special appearing among us without warning, the sort of movement that will bring change in its wake.  Of course, it is time for change as we have been reminded a lot recently by the new voice across the water.  The startling thing though, is how Joseph experiences what is very old indeed in the Atlantic coastline and translates it into a new relevance.

As Risteard Mac Gabhann (Director of Colmcille) says in his Foreword, ‘His great themes are exile, place, community, power and sustainability . . .’  From this it will be apparent that Joseph does not look at the world through rose coloured spectacles.  Far from it, but there are ways to prepare for such troubles as might be coming, and great joys to be taken from overcoming the new challenges.

Alex Salmond MSPMP, First Minister of Scotland, obviously agrees.  He has given both book and author a ringing endorsement which we have placed close to the front.  He says, ‘This book is a glorious illustration of how the coastline will surrender its riches to the enquiring visitor.’  Not only that but, ‘It encourages us to think hard about the meaning of sustainable development.’

Alex Salmond, like Risteard Mac Gabhann, can be read in the book’s Hinterland.

Recent constitutional developments, that must surely be to the benefit of all, are reinvigorating not only Ireland and Scotland but relations with England and Wales and the rest of Europe.  If Joseph Murphy is in any way a typical product of the new awareness then we have a lot to be optimistic about.  AT THE EDGE is imbued with a great spirit.

Over the past year we have done much work to improve the look and feel of Sandstone books.  There is more on the way.  In the autumn of this year we will be opening a new seam, and tackling it in new ways.  Really, you couldn’t guess . . . but there I will leave off for another week.