The Small Publishers Fair was as terrific as I expected, although I nearly didn’t make it through the door. In the entrance hall to the Conway Hall there was a sign showing all Saturday’s events: Main Hall – Small Publishers Fair, Bertrand Russell Room – Postal Mechanisation. For a moment I was torn, but the children dragged me forward and in to the main hall we went.
Cunning Les Coleman offered a postcard to my daughter Poppy and thus immediately got my attention. He’s not daft. It turns out that he was friends with Anthony Earnshaw who drew, with Eric Thacker, one of my favourite art-type books Musrum. He was selling some Earnshaw postcards called “Eight Wokker Postcards”. He said I should be sure to post them but of course I’m too selfish. I liked loads of Coleman’s books, but in the end bought just two. 180 grammes, (or maybe it’s called Kojak) is a sort of collection of aphorisms. -“IDENTIFICATION Cars crash; dogs bark; water evaporates; pylons fall over.” It is rather like some of the things in Musrum. “Meet the Art Students” is a book of cartoons of Art Student types. I love books of cartoons of types, who doesn’t? This picture isn’t in the book, but it’s in the same style.
Mark Pawson was over the aisle from Les Coleman. What can I say? Mark is such a really nice guy and everything he does is great. Order indiscriminately from his clunky site. I finally got around to buying his Pink Paper; it really is absorbing.
Coracle had millions of little books I wanted to buy. Collin Sacket’s book “by playback tape” has a beautiful tiny picture of a cassette tape on both covers and a sort of cut-up poem inside. It reminds me of a poem I recorded for Stan’s Café called Bleak Heart Driver.
The most money spent on one artist prize has to go to John Dilnot though. We bought four prints from him and I already wish I’d bought some of his books as well. It turns out that a few of my friends were already familiar with his work; my friend Isabel even claims that she knew that I’d like his stuff. Well, thanks for telling me Isabel. Anyway it’s OK now because the pictures I bought as Christmas presents are already up on the wall in my hall. This is my all-time favourite, “Little Museum”.
