Bijoux Books

A selection of Pania Press titles 2007-2009

If I ever have any doubts about the viability of our venture in the bijoux publishing sphere with Pania Press I need only go to the bookshelf and take out my favourite NZ small press titles to confirm that we are in great company. Doing this also makes me realise that what we create is part of a tradition of boutique publishing in New Zealand. Although the books we and others like us produce are limited in number and our audience is comparatively small in relation to that of mainstream publishers, our books still make a valuable contribution to New Zealand's literary culture.

In no particular order, here is a small sampling of some of the old and recent small press books on our shelf that inspire me:

Back: Graham Lindsay, Thousand-Eyed Eel, Hawk Press, Christchurch, 1975. Left: E'H. McCormick,The Inland Eye (cover design by Colin McCahon) Auckland Gallery Assoc. 1959. Right: Janet Frame. The Lagoon & Other Stories. Caxton Press, Christchurch, 1951.

A selection of titles published by Michael Steven at Soapbox Press, Auckland: Papyri by Jack Ross; the big O revisited by Martin Edmond, and Zin Uru by Christian Jensen.

The Among, a poem by Richard Reeve. Artwork by Nigel Bunn, Book design by Tara McLeod, Published by Maungatua Press, Otago, 2008.

Joanna Margaret Paul. the cherry now. Printed by Brendan O'Brien. The Fernbank Studio, Wellington, 2001.

Daryl McLaren, The back-to-front runner poems. Illustrations by Joanna Harris (nee Paul), Wai-te-ata Press, 1974.

Ted Jenner, Sappho Triptych, cover image by author, Puriri Press, Auckland, 2007.
Ted Jenner, A Memorial Brass, cover image by author, Hawk Press, 1980.

Michele Leggott, Journey to Portugal. Collages designed by Gretchen Albrecht and made by Elizabeth Steiner. Printed by Tara McLeod for The Holloway Press, The University of Auckland, 2006.