The Happy Dragons' Press is a non-profit

private press Private press publishing, with respect to books, is an endeavor performed by craft-based expert or aspiring artisans, either amateur or professional, who, among other things, print and build books, typically by hand, with emphasis on design, gra ...

in North Essex, UK, which publishes limited edition volumes of poetry using

letterpress Letterpress printing is a technique of relief printing. Using a printing press, the process allows many copies to be produced by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets or a continuous roll of paper. A worker comp ...

printing methods. There are currently two series produced by the press, the ''Dragon Poems in Translation'' series (edited by Shirley Toulson) and the ''New Garland'' series (edited by Rosemary Grant). The books are hand printed in-house by founder Julius Stafford-Baker. Founded in 1969 but originally producing only ephemera and the occasional book, the press was asked to adopt the Keepsake Poems project after the death of long-term collaborator

Roy Lewis Roy Lewis (6 November 1913 – 9 October 1996) was an English writer and small press printer. Life and work Although born in Felixstowe, Lewis was brought up in Birmingham and educated at King Edward's School. After studying at University ...

(founder of the Keepsake Press) and has since published 21 titles.

Bibliography

*''Blind Man's Buff'' by

Edward Lowbury Edward Joseph Lister Lowbury (December 12, 1913 - July 10, 2007) was a pioneering and innovative English medical bacteriologist and pathologist, and also a published poet. Life Edward Lowbury was born in Hampstead to the recently naturalised Benj ...

(2001) *''November Forest'' English by Anne Born, Swedish by Solveig von Schoultz, illustrated by Penny Berry (2002) *''Grace Notes'' by Karen Gershon, illustrated by Stella Tripp (2002) *''Girl, Dark Hued and Agile'' English by Albert Rowe, Spanish by

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

, illustrated by Eric Ward (2002) *''Hop Pickers' Holiday'' by

Gerda Mayer Gerda Kamilla Mayer (9 June 1927 – 15 July 2021) was an English poet born to a Jewish family in Karlsbad, Czechoslovakia. She escaped to England from Prague in 1939, aged eleven, on a Kindertransport flight organised by Trevor Chadwick. Havi ...

, illustrated by Clare Curtis (2003) *''Shelley Plain'' by

Robert Greacen Robert Greacen (1920–2008) was an Irish poet and member of Aosdána. Born in Derry, Ireland, on 24 October 1920, he was educated at Methodist College Belfast and Trinity College Dublin. He died on 13 April 2008 in Dublin, Ireland. Greacen's ...

(2003) *''Out There in Rows'' by John Cotton, illustrated by Rigby Graham (2003) *''February'' English by Angela Livingstone, Russian by

Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; rus, Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к, p=bɐˈrʲis lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ pəstɛrˈnak; 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pa ...

, illustrated by Gordon Bradshaw (2003) *''Where Do People Go'' by

Bernard Kops Bernard Kops (born 28 November 1926) is a British dramatist, memoirist, poet and novelist. Early life Born in the East End of London, the son of Dutch-Jewish immigrants, Kops was evacuated from London in 1939, and recounted that experience in ep ...

, illustrated by Adam Kops (2004) *''Stone and Other Poems'' by Fred Sedgwick, illustrated by Peter Gauld (2004) *''White Magic'' English by Anita Debska, Polish by Krzysztof Kamil Baczynski, illustrated by Olga Sienko (2004) *''Fifty O'Clock'' by

Dennis O'Driscoll Dennis O'Driscoll (1 January 1954 – 24 December 2012) was an Irish poet, essayist, critic and editor. Regarded as one of the best European poets of his time, Eileen Battersby considered him "the lyric equivalent of William Trevor" and a ...

, illustrated by Rigby Graham (2005) *''Starfall'' by

Wes Magee Wesley Leonard Johnston Magee (20 July 1939 – 21 October 2021) was a British poet and children's author. Life and career Magee was born in Greenock, Scotland, on 20 July 1939. Wes taught at Penhill & Park North Junior Schools in Swindon, befor ...

, illustrated by Penny Berry (2005) *''Catching the Ebb Tide'' written and illustrated by Rosemary Lynne Grant (2006) *''A Place to Live'' by

Vernon Scannell Vernon Scannell (23 January 1922 – 16 November 2007) was a British poet and author. He was at one time a professional boxer, and wrote novels about the sport. Personal life Vernon Scannell, whose birth name was John Vernon Bain, was born in ...

(2007) *''Wartime'' English by Taner Baybars, Turkish by Mehmet Yashin, illustrated by John R. Smith (2007) *''Small Parcel of Bones'' by David Charleston, illustrated by Penny Berry (2008) *''The Bone in Her Leg'' by John Mole, illustrated by Rigby Graham (2008) *''What It Is'' by Jane Wilde, illustrated by Olga Sienko (2009) *''Other Voices of the British Isles'', an anthology of poetry in translation, featuring four dialects and nine languages (2010)

Poetry in Translation

The press is notable for its focus on Poetry in Translation. Languages published to date include Cornish, German, Hebrew, Irish, Latin, Manx, Polish, Russian, Scots Gaelic, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. A number of poems in local dialects such as Perthshire, Northumbrian, Lincolnshire and

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

have also been published by the Happy Dragons' Press.

Letterpress Packing

The press is also notable for popularising a type of letterpress packing, used behind paper to improve impression quality, which they call ''Swiss Style Packing''. The packing consists of a synthetic foam rubber ''blanket'' and a hard plastic ''top layer''.

References

{{Citation , title = Amazon Search: Books Published by the Happy Dragons' Press , url = https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&unfiltered=1&__mk_en_GB=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&field-keywords=&field-author=&field-title=&field-isbn=&field-publisher=happy+dragons+press&node=&field-binding_browse-bin=&field-subject=&field-feature_browse-bin=&emi=&field-dateop=&field-datemod=&field-dateyear=&sort=relevancerank&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=52&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=7 Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom Small press publishing companies Publishing companies established in 1969 Private press movement

Bibliography

Poetry in Translation

Letterpress Packing

See also

References