Received: Bowler Press, Importance of Being Earnest

This is immediately one of the nicest books I own. Fantastic Quality. Beautiful cannot begin to describe it. One of 65 copies. There seem to be some left, you would be doing you a favor picking one up yourself.

Here are some pictures: http://www.librarything.com/gallery/member/busywine/tag/Bowler+Press

From the description: Hand set in Bembo roman, with stage directions composed in Fairbank italic by the Bixler letterfoundry. Printed on Somerset Book Soft White Wove (I must say probably the nicest paper of any book I have, with the equal exception of a few special LEC's). Quarter bound in burgundy velour (cannot tell you how awesome it looks) with pattern-printed covers and Bugra endsheets. Ten engravings by Jarrett Morrison, including one 4 by 6, six 3 by 4, and three 2 by 2.

Beautiful book. thanks for the photos.

>1 busywine:
My son's school just finished a stage performance of 'Earnest', his first foray into serious acting. I'd love to get him a nice edition of this work as a keepsake (besides, it's always fun to read again). But the Bowler Press edition, as wonderful as it looks, is a bit more than I'm willing to pay for a keepsake. I think I'll try for an FS edition on the used book market.

Os.

Did a bit more extensive review of the book on my new blog,

http://booksandvines.com/2011/07/06/the-bowler-press-wildes-importance-of-being-...

Nice! I'll add a link to your new blog on The Whole Book Experience! I'm hoping to pull the trigger on the Bowler Wilde soon.

>6 jveezer:, thanks for the link!

this edition is not worth the money, mmix on the spine, mmviii on the title page, that's why this doesn't sell. flood of these small private press on the maket to cash on good paper and letterpress with cheap woodengravings and public domain text

>8 kukix: , would be nice to have any idea what you are talking about. Most classics are public domain at this point. Spine and paper are more then better than most. Cheap wood gravings? What do you mean by that? I certainly do not mean to be opposed to other opinions, but you throw out some stuff with no detail. Do you have the book?

i'm talking about the book, not you, the person. i took a good look of this thoroughly in vancouver show so that's not important if i have this book or not. what i mean is: 2009 on spine, 2008 on title page, this is a joke. other than that, the wood engravings are not appealing, but that depends on personal taste, this is my problem, sorry. not all private press do this worthless reprint on fine paper with letterpress. some of them actually reedit it or pay for recent copyright, or ask experts to write an introduction, like arion, lec, to name a few, barbarian press will be rich if they bother releasing this kind of "nothing-more-than-stationery". i'm shocked that crispin gave this a rave review, maybe tiobe used the type he gave to bowler

Not sure if this has been linked before but its a interview with the bowler press/Jarrett Morrison. I found it a lovely read. Also booksandvines gets mentioned.

http://vancouverisawesome.com/2012/02/11/print-matters-the-bowler-press-with-jar...

Jarrett at bowler press has posted an update of the Pride and Prejudice upcomming books.
He is starting a fundraising campaign to get the ball rolling.

Thanks 12 and 13, you beat me to it. It is also up on Books and Vines News.

http://booksandvines.com/fine-press-news/

Does anyone know what happened to Bowler Press? The website hasn’t been updated in years it seems. Was Pride & Prejudice canceled?

>15 Esoterics: Their Facebook page was active through late 2020, but since then nothing.

>15 Esoterics:

Although I might be mistaken, I believe that it was a case of ‘life-getting-in-the way’ of operating a private press. I have exchanged a few e-mails with Jarrett in 2019 that suggest that he may revive The Bowler Press in the future and that he still intends to print Pride and Prejudice. More recently, he has printed a few beautiful Christmas and New Year cards this time last year. Alas, no news on more substantial projects at this time. I sincerely hope that he will be able to restart The Bowler Press someday. The few items that he did print, such as The Importance of Being Earnest, were of a very high quality by anyone’s standard and superb for someone who was just starting a private press.

>17 vadim_ca: I’ve been trying to find a copy of The Importance of Being Earnest and would like to see Pride and Prejudice come to fruition. Hopefully he can resume his work.

>18 Esoterics: I have sent you a message. Hope you will be able to obtain a copy.

Wow! talk about resurrecting a thread :)
I had a few interactions with Bowler Press, which is/was just one individual! I hate to say it, but after 8 years I think it's safe to say P&P will not be happening.

>20 astropi: I figured better to revive an old thread than start another. Looks like the press was working on A Modest Proposal as well. Maybe one day the press will be resurrected just like this thread.

>19 vadim_ca: I just put in my order, thank you for the tip!

>21 Esoterics: that would be lovely. P&P is not on my want list (plenty of beautiful editions) but I would love to find a fine edition of A Modest Proposal :)