Books Perfect bound
Wicotex seems a shrewd choice, too: compared to Wibalin it has a more uneven, almost “imperfect” feel, with its rugged, noticable weave bearing a sense of craſt: the books feel made, rather than produced. Such materials naturally come at a cost, with LIP’s titles priced rather higher than those at many other imprints. Yet Latimer believes that ploughing a relatively niche furrow enables his list to justify its prices. “The fact is that some people don’t read poetry and are, in fact, actively uninterested in it, irrespective of price. But there are a modest, and relatively stable, number of readers who are. “Why, then, should we insist on an oſten unfeasibly low price point at the expense of the qualit of the product, merely in order to keep alive the pipe-dream of poetry’s popularit? We risk devaluing the whole medium. Our decision to turn the poetry collection into a tactile, collectable hardback is merely one means of addressing the awkward fit of the poetry book in the contem- porary market. By deliberately investing in the production values, we hope to restore something of the medium’s intrinsic value.”
Cleaver’s cutting edge
Though Latimer is, for a managing director, refreshingly well-versed in the areas of tpography, design and production that distinguishes his titles, he tasked Phil Cleaver of the Typographic Research Unit with creating LIP’s aesthetic. The hand of an expert tpographer is visible: the grid system upon which the whole book is held together is designed “inside out”, which is to say that the dimensions of the tpeface used for the body copy—the length of line, the distance between lines, and so on—provide the fundamen- tal measurements upon which the rest of the “grid”, and therefore the entire publication, is constructed. Given the preeminence of the indi- vidual word in the poetry genre, it’s a fiting approach —one that will “make our books stand the test of time”, Latimer argues.
Cleaver used tpefaces Bembo Arcadian with Gill Sans Nova Bold in the supporting role: both have a classical, timeless feel, especially
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when set so exactingly. Latimer says: “Phil created an aesthetic that, to my mind at least, is both consist- ent with the history of bookmak- ing and strikingly modern and, as such, successfully straddles the old and the new.” Cleaver also designed the LIP colophon—a rare instance of a publisher’s “logo” resembling an image, rather than simply spell- ing out its name—and remarkably matched the weight of its strokes with that of the 8-point Gill Sans, “so that whenever they appear on a page, document or spine together,
“In the UK we cannot get the quality of book we require at the same unit cost as we have been getting abroad. If the price of materials also rises [post-Brexit], this will significantly impact our costs—unless, of course, we downgrade elements of our design, which we are not prepared to do”
there is a visual harmony,” Latimer says, adding: “His atention to detail went way beyond what I expected.” Atention to detail is a good
lens through which to view LIP’s output. The Wicotex fabrics cover 2,500-micron boards—equivalent to 2.5mm thick—giving the books a considerable heſt despite their relatively modest pagination; black- and-white paterned headbands are from Ilford-based textile producer John Maclennan; the cover tpog- raphy is debossed with Kurz Colorit VB foils; and bellybands on the back cover come in 140gsm stock, provided by Fedrigoni and Color- plan. The last includes promo- tional quotes and the ISBN so as to do away with the dust jacket (a “hindrance”), but Latimer “fully expects our readers to throw this away and enjoy the simple tactilit”.
They also add to the minimal feel, removing any trace of commercial transaction or promotion from the objects once bought. And the dual paper suppliers came about because of Colorplan’s breadth of hues and a recommendation from LIP’s Italian printer Graphicom.
“The qualit of its foil-blocking was superb,” Latimer says, “and it was quite happy for us to be incredibly fussy and request specialist stocks—not all printers are. It suggested Fedrigoni, a fellow Italian company, and luckily it had a shade that matched the yellow of the Memento series.” Litle Island plans to continue using both paper suppliers “in order to get the right colour combinations”.
Currency affairs
However, such continental collabo- ration may come into question aſter the anticipated invocation of Article 50 in 2017. Latimer says he is “very happy” with Graphicom, but the EU referendum outcome has “put the future production of our books with them in jeopardy... given the enor- mit of the unknowns ahead”. When he inked a deal with the printer, the pound was worth 1.6 euros; now it is closer to 1.1. “As we don’t know what trading terms the UK will be able to negotiate with the Eurozone, I’d rather steer clear of having to rely on imports,” Latimer says. “This means moving production to the UK.” There’s also the question of
importing the materials, too, which puts LIP in something of a conun- drum. “In the UK we cannot get the qualit of book we require at the same unit cost as we have been geting abroad. If the price of mate- rials also rises, this will signifi- cantly impact our costs—unless, of course, we downgrade elements of our design, which we are not prepared to do for the time being,” Latimer says, adding that he would “be uncomfortable, in a post-Brexit economy, asking consumers to foot the extra bill”. Whatever the outcome, one suspects that given Latimer and Cleaver’s obvious dedication and deliberacy concerning the craſt of bookmaking, it may take more than an island mentalit to wholly hamstring Litle Island. ×
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