Subscriptions

Subscribers to Greenboathouse Press agree to purchase one copy of each book prior to its release; this arrangement not only guarantees the subscriber a copy, but allows us to better plan and budget each production. In addition to a substantial discount on each project, subscribers will also receive prospecti (book announcements) and occasional gratis ephemera (small pamphlets, random experiments, etc.).

Projects will range from single broadsheets to typographical ephemera, to chapbooks, to larger projects including extended prose works.

Pricing / Schedule

In the past, the bulk of our subscriptions were from readers and libraries primarily interested in contemporary Canadian poetry. This subject is one Greenboathouse will continue to pursue (Jake’s new book is a stunning example of what’s going on in Canadian writing these days), but this year marks a concerted shift to focus on the history of typography, with special attention to the Renaissance revival of what we now call the Roman alphabet.

The revival of Roman inscriptional letters has become my main scholarly project for the past few years, and after a research visit in 2010 to the Newberry Library, alongside the publication of the Feliciano alphabet, I've planned a number of additional volumes to be published in the coming years, each of which will reproduce the letterforms of a Renaissance Italian writing master. Also in the planning stages is a comprehensive bibliography of books designed by Dutch type designer and typographer Jan van Krimpen, tentatively scheduled for 2014. While this new focus is exciting, this movement to producing books of typographical interest introduces an uncertainty in terms of subscribers’ own tastes and preferences.

By necessity, the typographic projects will require a higher price, not only due to the materials used, but also due to the historical research and lengthy creative and manual processes required. The 26 illustrations for this year’s Feliciano, for example, based in minute detail on the original drawings of 1460, took over a year to prepare, were then produced as over 80 polymer plates, which were then printed in over 20 colours, each of which required exact registration. The book was then sewn onto tapes, glued-up, and cased into a stiff handmade paper wrapper, all in the Greenboathouse shop.

The publication of the Feliciano brings to the fore an important question: Do you, as a new or continuing subscriber to Greenboathouse Press, share this interest in typographic history? My guess is that some of you will want to continue collecting our literary titles, but may wish to opt out of the typographic projects. On the other hand, some of you may have more interest in the later, and little in the former. As such, I’d like to offer three new subscription options:

• Literary Only: beginning with the 2011 publication of Robert Kroetsch's and Jason Dewinetz's books at a 10% discount, subscribers will continue to purchase all of our literary publications (1-2/yr) at a 20% discount.
  [new sub: $200.00 - 10% = $180.00 (+ $10.00 shipping)]
  [Once subscribed, all backlisted titles are available at a %20 discount.]
  
  
• Typographic Only: beginning with the 2010 publication of Felice Feliciano’s Alphabetum Romanum at a 10% discount, subscribers will purchase only those projects related to the history and practice of typography (1-2/yr) at a price discounted by 20%.
  [new sub: $300.00 - 10% = $270.00 (+ $10.00 shipping)]
  [Once subscribed, all backlisted titles are available at a %20 discount.]
  
  
• Bundle: beginning with all three of the books mentioned above at a discount of 15%, subscribers agree to purchase all Greenboathouse projects (2-3/yr) at a price discounted by 25%.
  [new sub: $200.00 + $300.00 - 15% = $425.00 (+ $10.00 shipping)]
  [Once subscribed, all backlisted titles are available at a %25 discount.]
  
  
• Institutional Subscriptions will also have these three options available to them, and will receive ephemera as well; however, there is no discount to institutional purchases.

But what if a literary subscriber is drawn to a given year’s typographic release, or the other way around? One-off orders from one side to the other will still receive the 20% discount, with no requirement to continue buying from the non-subscription side of the fence. However, in order to maintain that 20/25% discount, subscribers must continue to purchase all releases in their chosen category.

Signing Up

To sign up for one of these options or with any questions about subscriptions, please . Once we're in contact, I can provide you with all of the pertinent information on your subscription choice and current releases, as well as arranging to send out your first subscriber's package with prospectuses and other bits of ephemera. The first subscription payment will be based on your subscription option and any additional backlisted titles you may want to add to your first order.

Once signed up, an email will be sent with a custom PayPal button specifically for your payment, which can be paid by debit, credit card, or PayPal cash. If you would prefer to pay by cheque, that can be easily arranged as well.

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Edition Limitations

The standard edition has been 100+ copies, but starting this year (2011) editions will be limited to 55 copies, comprising 45 sales copies and 10 for private distribution (author's copies, press copies, presentation & review copies), although variation in the editions may occur from time to time due to unforeseen circumstances (stacks of paper spontaneously combusting or being eaten by the press, etc.).

A Look Ahead

As a hint at what else is to come, rights have been secured to produce an edition of Dostoyevsky’s painfully neurotic Notes from Underground, which will be accompanied by a prospectus pamphlet that presents the novel, truncated to less than 20 pages, by the Canadian avant-garde poet Cory Myrass. A detailed bibliography of all books designed by Dutch typographer Jan van Krimpen is also in preparation, which will be the first book to be printed in my digital revival of Van Krimpen’s typeface Romanée, alongside a handful of pages printed in the original foundry metal version of the type. New poetry will also appear as it presents itself, and the next few years will also see Greenboathouse Press become a private typefoundry, with the goal of cutting and casting a proprietary face of our own.

For details on books in production for 2011, please visit the Books page...

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