Historian John Cole started working at the Library of Congress as a young man in 1966. Most of his books since have dealt with this venerable institution. We talk here about it’s influence on American political and cultural life, about Thomas…

Stephan Delbos is a New England-born writer living in Prague, where he teaches at Anglo-American University and Charles University. His poetry, essays and translations have appeared internationally in journals such as Absinthe, Agni, Oxonian Review,…

Series: Biblio File in France Better known for its wines, the perfection of its local spoken French, it’s cathedral and chateau, the city of Tours France also has a surprisingly rich historical connection with printing and typography. I was in Tours…

I interviewed Lauren Elkin about her new book Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London at her apartment in the Belleville neighbourhood of Paris. Stepping off a rather ordinary, noisy street through a large pair of…

Yes, the background voices are distracting, but what do you expect, we’re in a Welsh pub for crying out loud! Well, actually we’re upstairs at the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea at a bar surrounded by revellers who have just attended a hilarious …

Wikipedia tells us that “Thomas Bewick (1753 – 1828) was an English engraver and  author. Early in his career he took on all kinds of work such as engraving , making the wood blocks for advertisements, and illustrating children’s books. He…

Gaylord Schanilec is an American wood engraver, printer, designer and illustrator. He is the proprietor of Midnight Paper Sales press. Schanilec has “set the standard for contemporary artist’s books over the last 30 years.” His highly…

David Esslemont is an artist, designer, printmaker and bookbinder. He makes books from scratch, most recently about food, and publishes under his Solmentes Press imprint. He was Artistic Director of the University of…

Literary tourism