Enitharmon Press

Enitharmon Press is an independent British publishing house specialising in artists’ books, poetry, limited editions and original prints.

This article is about the independent British publisher. For the character in William Blake's mythology, see Enitharmon.

The name of the press comes from the poetry of William Blake: Enitharmon was a character who represented spiritual beauty and poetic inspiration. The press's logo "derives from a Blake woodcut".[1]

Enitharmon Press
StatusActive
Founded1967 (1967)
FounderAlan Clodd
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Key peopleStephen Stuart-Smith, CEO, Isabel Brittain, Director
Fiction genresPoetry, literary translation, memoirs, fiction, literary criticism
Official websiteenitharmon.co.uk

Origins

The Press was founded by Alan Clodd in 1967. Sharing a belief with close friend Kathleen Raine in the "sacrificial stresses which seem to be the means by which the vision of outstanding creative spirits is enhanced for the benefit of their fellow beings", Clodd had little faith in the publishing mainstream.[2] Since its founding Enitharmon Press has been distinguished as an independent press whose two major concerns have been the quality of its books (from paper and binding to typesetting and design) and maintaining a "wide-ranging literary culture outside the realm of agents, public relations and television tie-ins".[3]

Under Alan Clodd's stewardship Enitharmon published over 150 titles. Some of the most prestigious include books by Kathleen Raine, David Gascoyne, Vernon Watkins, Samuel Beckett and John Heath-Stubbs.

"William Blake dreamed up the original Enitharmon as one of his inspiriting, good, female daemons, and his own spirit as a poet-artist, printer-publisher still lives in the press which bears the name of his creation. Enitharmon is a rare and wonderful phenomenon, a press where books are shaped into artefacts of lovely handiwork as well as communicators of words and worlds. The writers and the artists published here over the last fifty years represent a truly historic gathering of individuals with an original vision and an original voice, but the energy is not retrospective: it is growing and new ideas enrich the list year by year. Like an ecologist who manages to restock the meadows with a nearly vanished species of wild flower or brings a rare pair of birds back to found a colony, this publisher has dedicatedly and brilliantly made a success of that sharply endangered species, the independent press."

— Marina Warner

In 1987, as he neared the age of 70, Clodd passed on the directorship of Enitharmon to Stephen Stuart-Smith. Alongside the poetry list, Stuart-Smith established Enitharmon Editions, now the leading British publisher of collaborations between distinguished artists and authors. Artists include Paula Rego, Gilbert & George, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jim Dine, Robert Creeley, R. B. Kitaj and Victor Pasmore, and authors Ted Hughes, Thom Gunn, Seamus Heaney and Blake Morrison.

The list of Enitharmon Press, while still specialising in poetry, diversified to include translations, memoirs, fiction and literary criticism. Most notably, translations of Federico García Lorca, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Rainer Maria Rilke and Lao Zi and critical responses to the work of Edward Thomas and Edward Upward.

Notable authors and publications

Accolades

Writers published by Enitharmon have been recipients of these awards:

References
  1. "About - Enitharmon Editions". Enitharmon Editions. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  2. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article806608.ece
  3. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article806608.ece
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