Café Royal Books is an

independent publisher A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. However, when a distinction ...

Artist’s books are collected by Tate and send [sic
/nowiki> across the globe">ic">Artist’s books are collected by Tate and send [sic
/nowiki> across the globe, ''Southport Visiter''. Retrieved by the Wayback Machine on 16 October 2014. of photography Photo-book, photobooks or zines, run by Craig Atkinson and based in

Ainsdale Ainsdale is a village near Southport, in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Sefton district, in Merseyside, England, situated three miles south of the centre of Southport. Originally in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lanca ...

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

, England.Brittania [sic
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/nowiki> Coco-nut Dancers: An interview with Craig Atkinson of Café Royal Books, The Photographers' Gallery. Accessed 11 July 2014.Trench, Anna (6 February 2013)
"Great new zines from Café Royal Books offer unlikely tours of Britain and America"
It's Nice That. Accessed 11 July 2014. Café Royal Books produces small-run publications predominantly documenting social and cultural change, Including themes of youth, leisure, music, protest, race, religion, industry, identity, architecture and fashion, often in Britain and Ireland,Beber, Emily (3 September 2013)
2Publication: Café Royal Books immerse us in all of the peculiarities of Britain"
It's Nice That. Accessed 11 July 2014. using both new work and photographs from archives. Café Royal Books has been operating since 2005 and has published over 950 books and zines. Its publications are held in public collections including

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

;On 7 January 2023, requesting the words or phrase "cafe royal books" from
Tate Library Catalogue
brought a list of 213 items. National Art Library,

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, London;Search Results: 29 titles matched: Café Royal Books
, National Art Library. Accessed 11 July 2014.

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York City;Dadabase: The Museum of Modern Art
,

. Accessed 11 July 2014.

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

;National Gallery of Canada: Library and Archives — Catalogue
,

. Accessed 11 July 2014. the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

Explore the British Library: Search, View and Order from our Catalogues & Collections
,

. Accessed 11 July 2014. and the

Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (also known simply as (the) Baltic, stylised as BALTIC) is a centre for contemporary art located on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. It hosts a frequently changing variety ...

Martin Parr Martin Parr (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in p ...

has described Café Royal Books as "a great archive of much forgotten documentary photography" and

Daniel Meadows Daniel Meadows (born 1952) is an English photographer turned maker of digital stories, and a teacher of photography turned teacher of participatory media. Life and career as photographer Meadows was born in Great Washbourne, Gloucestershire, " ...

has said "Craig Atkinson nbsp;. . . has invented a publishing model for creating a truly exciting new history of documentary photography in Britain."

Details

Based in Southport, Atkinson is also a senior lecturer and researcher at the

University of Central Lancashire The University of Lancashire (previously abbreviated UCLan) is a public university based in the city of Preston, Lancashire, England. It has its roots in ''The Institution For The Diffusion Of Useful Knowledge'', founded in 1828. Previously k ...

. He founded Café Royal Books in 2005.Craig Atkinson: Staff Profile: University of Central Lancashire
,

. Accessed 11 July 2014. New booklets are published frequently: in 2014, typically one per week and in short runs typically of 250 copies. They are sold both directly and through bookshops in the UK, Europe, USA, Australia, Japan, Canada and Switzerland. The booklets have a consistent print quality, paper and layout; they are laid out to a grid system, usually 36 pages in length, slightly under A5 size, predominantly black & white and affordable. The colophon is on the front cover, making it easy to read on bookshop shelves. The booklets predominantly document social, historical and cultural change, including themes of youth, leisure, music, protest, race, religion, industry, identity, architecture and fashion, using both previously unpublished work and photographs from archives. Atkinson wrote in 2013 that emphasis "is given to work that encourages new ways of thinking about existing material or language which demonstrates the importance of using, documenting, collecting and observing a particular process or thing." For example, in 2012 Café Royal began publishing a series of books based loosely on documentary photography with links to Britain and Ireland. Café Royal Books specialises in collaborating with a photographer and their archive or estate. It has published work by over 100 photographers, including

John Benton-Harris John Benton-Harris (September 28, 1939 – August 26, 2023) was an American photographer and educator who lived and worked in the United Kingdom. Life and work John Benton-Harris was born in The Bronx, New York City on September 28, 1939. He work ...

John Bulmer John Bulmer (born 28 February 1938) is a photographer, notable for his early use of colour in photojournalism, and a filmmaker. Life and career Bulmer was born on 28 February 1938 in Herefordshire,

, David Carol, John Claridge, Douglas Corrance, John Deakin, Peter Dench, Henrik Drescher, Alejandro Guijarro, Ken Grant, David Hurn, Chris Killip, Stephen McLaren,

, Tish Murtha, Jim Mortram,

, Simon Roberts, Victor Sloan,

Brian David Stevens Brian David Stevens (born 1970) is a British photographer, based in London. He has made work on Sound system (DJ), sound systems of Notting Hill Carnival, war veterans, the Grenfell Tower fire, the British coastline and the suicide spot of Beachy ...

, Homer Sykes,

Ed Templeton Ed Templeton (born July 28, 1972) is an American professional skateboarder, contemporary artist, and photographer. He is the founder of the skateboard company, Toy Machine, a company that he continues to own and manage. He is based in Huntingt ...

Arthur Tress Arthur Tress (born November 24, 1940) is an American photographer. He is known for his staged surrealism and exposition of the human body. Early life and education Tress comes from a Jewish background; his parents immigrated from Europe. He was ...

, Patrick Ward, Janine Wiedel, and Document Scotland photographers among others. Café Royal has worked with some photographers to produce numerous different books of their work. Some of the books are of Atkinson's own work. Café Royal Books occasionally publish larger print runs: as examples, the first printings of Killip's ''Huddersfield 1974'' and of Chris Steele-Perkins' ''Wolverhampton 1978'' were of 500 copies. And some of the publications are later reprinted. In 2022 the Martin Parr Foundation held a retrospective exhibition, ''Café Royal Books, Documentary, Zines and Subversion'', of 300 Café Royal publications and 167 prints of work appearing within these.Café Royal Books, Documentary, Zines and Subversion
, Martin Parr Foundation. Accessed 12 July 2023. (This says 300 publications.)

Collections

Various Café Royal publications are held in public collections (museums and galleries) including: *

: 4 publications (as of June 2018) *

. *

, New York, NY. *

. * National Art Library,

, London. *

. *University Library,

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland.

Café Royal Projects

Café Royal Projects are occasional projects that use gallery type spaces for a purpose other than an exhibition. In 2010 the Café Royal Temporary Library invited artists to submit books and editions. The gallery space was presented as a reading room for the public to use, with 800 titles. In 2012 the International Drawing Project exhibited film, drawing, and publications from eighty artists over three weeks. Ten catalogues were published to document the event and the artists. In 2013 an exhibition and reading room featured essays from academics with backgrounds in photography, artists' books and communication design.

Exhibitions

*''Picture Book: Co-curated with Pages,'' The Tetley, Leeds, UK, January–March 2016. With Café Royal Books publications as well as work from Christian Barnes, David Barton, Nous Vous, and Landfill Editions. *''The Vanished East End: Documentary Photography from the 70s and 80s,'' Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives, September 2021 – February 2022; Brady Arts and Community Centre, April 2022. A collaboration between Café Royal Books, London Metropolitan University's School of Art, Architecture and Design and the East End Archive, an online and digital photographic resource, with work by Diane Bush, Mike Seaborne,

Brian Griffin Brian Griffin is a fictional character from the American animated sitcom ''Family Guy''. He is one of the main characters of the series and a member of the Griffin family. Created, designed, and voiced by Seth MacFarlane, he is an anthrop ...

Tom Hunter Sir Thomas Blane Hunter (born 6 May 1961) is a Scottish businessman and philanthropist. Sports Division Hunter set up his first business after graduating from the University of Strathclyde as he was, in his own words, "unemployable". With a ...

, and Syd Shelton. *''Café Royal Books, Documentary, Zines and Subversion,'' Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol, UK. April–June 2022.

Notes

References

External links

*
'Café Royal Books: Craig Atkinson talks to Photoworks about the titles published by Café Royal Books, the weekly photobook publisher'A video showing the production of Grab The Uranium, which was made during a residency at Knust, a Risograph workshop in Nijmegen, Netherlands
(7 min. video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cafe Royal Books Book publishing companies of England Companies based in Sefton Photography companies of the United Kingdom Publishing companies established in 2005 Small press publishing companies Visual arts publishing companies