The Book-Makers!

I have a book coming out next month! It’s called The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in 18 Remarkable Lives. It’s published by Bodley Head in the UK, and Basic Books in North America.

If you’ve enjoyed reading these Substack despatches, I think you might enjoy this book, too. It’s the story of the printed book told through the lives of the men and women who have done remarkable things with the form – from Wynkyn de Worde in later 15^th London, to the zine makers of contemporary New York. Printers and binders, publishers and artists, paper-makers and library founders. Think skill, craft, mess, cunning, triumph, improvisation, and error. It’s full of big ideas and also curious digressions. There are some good jokes, too!

It’s out in April in the UK and May in North America, but you can pre-order it now – here for the UK, and here for USA.

I won’t send another plug out – I promise. But I hope you enjoy this book if you do read it!