Miniature Book News, Number 92, March 1997 Page: 7
8 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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up son's bedroom as my book room.
Soon, the two large book shelves there
were filled with double rows of my
treasures, all the way from two
incunabula, books published between
1451 with the invention of moveable
type to 1501, to signed limited editions
of some of my favorite contemporary
writers. ...to push this book ahead of the other
two which were in various stages of
printing or binding as Mr. White would
be celebrating his 84th birthday in
June of '85, and I'd very much like
to have this book ready for him at
this time.
Then I sent off a letter to Mr. White:"Dear Mr. White:
Today there are over 100 publishers
bringing out miniature books here
in the United States, in Europe and
in Asia. None, however, was publishing
contemporary authors. ... I
concentrated on my wide knowledge
of literature.
On a drive to Mexico City on our
honeymoon nearly 58 years ago, there
were only four cities in Mexico along
the new Pan-Am highway where one
could expect modern conveniences.
One was a small village named for
two early silver prospectors, one
Thomas, the other Charlie. As this
combined our two names, we borrowed
this designation for our press and used
the Mexican spelling, Tamazunchale.
I spent the first year, 1983, learning
the fundamentals of publishing. We
visited Joh. Enschede en Zonen in
Haarlem, Holland, a 275 year-old
company who print books of all sizes
plus all the stamps and paper in Holland.
They became the printers of sixteen
of the twenty books I published in
editions of 250 copies. The other
negotiations were handled very
satisfactorily by mail. I learned that
the complete process could take a
year or in some cases, more.
While E.B. White was not the first
author I published, he was at the top
of my list of favorites. ... I chose
one (White's) piece, "The Geese" as
being the right length for a tiny tome
and one which would appeal to men
and women of all ages who were buying
my books. I wrote to the original
publisher for permission to re-print.
. After a long wait--this permission
was granted. Only the Pearl Buck
book took longer, a year and a half.
So finally I was able to send the
manuscript to Enschede with my
selections of goose grey leather and
the most feather-like marbled end
papers I could find. I asked the printer"I have been enjoying a one woman
E.B. White Festival out here in Newton,
Iowa, rereading all your stories, essays
and poems. It would be difficult for
me to select a favorite, but I suspect
it is 'One More to the Lake'." (This
is a very loving and poignant piece
about his taking his son to a lake in
Maine where his father had taken
him as a boy. As they were swimming,
fishing, walking together in the woods,
sometimes it was difficult to remember
which was the father, which was the
son.) Then I went on: "It is a great
honor and pleasure for me to be granted
permission to reprint 'The Geese' in
miniature book form." And I wished
him well.
This time it wasn't months but only
five days when I received a reply from
Mr. White:
"Dear Mrs. Smith,
"I was about to go once more to the
lake when I fell on some rough ground
and cracked a few ribs, so I decided
to stay home and read nice letters
like yours. Thanks a lot.
"To my knowledge I have never seen
a miniature book, but I suspect I have
written quite a few. If you bring out
'The Geese', I'd very much like a copy.
It would successfully louse up the
even tenor of my book shelves.
Sincerely,
E.B. White"
It is very difficult to proofread miniature
fonts. The eye sees what it expects
to see. When the galleys for "The
Geese" arrived, I read it through twice
for errors, and Tom, once .... I always
sent two more copies to a living author
. . . Within a week I received a letter
from Mr. White's secretary. They
had enjoyed the little book, she wrote,
but Mr. White had suffered three strokes7
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Edison, Julian I. Miniature Book News, Number 92, March 1997, periodical, March 1997; St. Louis, Missouri. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc9406/m1/7/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.