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Moschatel Press

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Moschatel Press is a small press publisher producing artist's books and poetry collections.[1] It was founded in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, in 1973, by the artist Laurie Clark and the Scottish poet Thomas A. Clark and moved to Pittenweem, Fife in 2002.[2] The Press "is named after adoxa moschatellina, a plant known locally as Town Clock for its four-way green flower heads, with a fifth flower facing the sky."[3] Their main line is in "publishing minimal texts, visual poetry and the like in small neat booklets and postcards."[4]

They have published work by Ian Hamilton Finlay among other artists; although most of their output is their own work[5] which frequently consists of reflections on nature.[6] A treadle press they were given as a wedding present inspired the founding of Moschatel Press, allowing them to print poems and send them to friends.[7] The treadle press was replaced by a tabletop Adana printing press.

Founders

Thomas A. Clark was born in Greenock, Scotland in 1944 and left school, "barely literate", at 15. He then worked in factories and warehouses for the next eight year, before realising "there was a world outside to be lived in".[8]

Clark moved to England in 1967.

Laurie Clark was born in New York in 1949 and married Thomas A. Clark in 1972.

In 1986 the Clarks established the Cairn Gallery initially in Days Mill, Nailsworth, and subsequently in Pittenweem. The Gallery an artist-run space, for land art, minimalism and lyrical or poetic conceptualism.[2]

Publications

The list of publications is first derived from the Moschatel Press Bibliography published by the Press itself for an exhibition at the Coracle Press, Camberwell, from 1 December 1979 to 5 January 1980. The list of subsequent publications is not definitive. All works are by Thomas A. Clark unless otherwise stated.

A box set of 67 publications was issued in 1982. Further collections were issued as "A Box Of Landscapes" in 2010 and 2016, comprising publications spanning forty years of the Moschatel Press and others.

In addition to his work with Moschatel Press, Thomas A. Clark led a group of artists installing artworks in the new Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow for its opening in 2009.[9]

Publication Year Title Author Artist Notes
1973 Fill In The Drawing Laurie Clark
1973 Fritillary Laurie Clark Publication year not printed
1973 Folding The Last Sheep Publication year not printed
1973 An Epitaph
1973 The Garden
1974 Horizon
1974 Four Flowers
1974 A Wee Tot For Catullus Jonathan Williams
1974 Snowdrop Ian Hamilton Finlay Publication year not printed
1974 Iris Laurie Clark
1974 Shape & Shade Laurie Clark Publication year not printed
1974 September Publication year not printed
1974 Not Now Cid Corman
1974 A Basket of Landscapes Laurie Clark Publication year not printed
1974 Pebbles Laurie Clark Publication year not printed
1975 Glade
1975 Deserts of Afghanistan Helen Williams
1975 L'Invitation Au Voyage Laurie Clark Publication year not printed
1975 Anemone Laurie Clark Publication year not printed
1975 Moss Stitch Laurie Clark
1975 A Vase Of Daffodils Laurie Clark Publication year not printed
1976 Petits Fours
1976 Painted Lady Laurie Clark
1976 Two Horizons Laurie Clark Publication year not printed
1976 Clare's "Journey Out Of Essex" Simon Cutts Laurie Clark
1976 Thrums Laurie Clark Publication year not printed
1976 Hart's Tongue Laurie Clark
1977 Foliations Laurie Clark
1977 Two Acres
1977 The Bright Glade Laurie Clark
1977 A Meadow Voyage Laurie Clark Publication year not printed
1977 Haystacks and Islands Laurie Clark
1978 Nine Roses Laurie Clark
1978 Fly Patterns For Still Waters Laurie Clark
1978 Gatherings Laurie Clark Publication year not printed
1978 Water Cresses Laurie Clark
1978 Quatrefoils Laurie Clark Printed for South West Review; publication year not printed
1979 After Pissarro Laurie Clark Publication year not printed
1979 Two Evergreen Horizons Laurie Clark
1979 A Glade Of Lances
1979 The Dappled Glade Laurie Clark
1979 Style Laurie Clark
1979 Of Leaves Laurie Clark
1979 Proverbs Of The Meadow Laurie Clark Publication year not printed
1979 Four English Flowers Laurie Clark
1979 From A Glossary Of Old Scots
1979 Moschatel Press Bibliography with introduction by Alan Tucker Laurie Clark 600 copies
1979 A Rock Pool Laurie Clark
1979 In The Scottish Lowlands
1979 A Short Tour of the Highlands Laurie Clark
1979 The Frog Leaps Thirteen Times Laurie Clark
1980 Four Horizons
1980 Tansy Buttons Laurie Clark
1980 A Herb Garden 250 signed and numbered copies
1980 Adjectives For Grasses Laurie Clark
1980 Proverbs Of The Mountain Laurie Clark 300 signed and numbered copies
1980 Parenthetical Land Laurie Clark Card for opening of Alan & Joan Tucker's new bookshop, Stroud, Glos
1981 A Delphinium Border 200 numbered copies
1981 Dicotyledons Laurie Clark
1981 From A Bookseller's Catalogue
1981 Four Fruits 150 numbered copies
1981 Metamorphosis
1981 A Moth Glade
1981 Photography In The Open Air Laurie Clark
1981 Ruin Wood Laurie Clark 200 numbered copies
1981 Sixteen Sonnets
1981 Solos, Duets & Quartets Simon Cutts Laurie Clark 125 signed and numbered copies
1981 The Tapestry Laurie Clark
1981 Three Triolets
1982 A Dedication Laurie Clark
1982 By Footpath & Stile (no text) Laurie Clark 300 copies
1982 For Returning Warriors /In Memoriam
1982 Geum Rivale Laurie Clark 200 numbered copies
1982 The Lacemaker Laurie Clark
1982 Wayward Definitions Laurie Clark 200 copies; expanded edition published as "Vagrant Definitions" by Membrane Press, Shorewood, WI, 1984
1982 Three Colours 200 numbered colours
1982 Moschatel Press Stuart Mills Laurie Clark Essay for University of Warwick Library exhibition of books, cards and prints by Thomas A. Clark and Laurie Clark
1982 Twenty Four Sentences About The Forest
1982 Under The Brae Laurie Clark
1983 In A Country Churchyard (no text) Laurie Clark 200 copies
1983 Pauses and Digressions Laurie Clark 300 copies of which 12 are signed and hand-coloured
1983 The Blue Boat, No. 1 Robert Lax Laurie Clark Published as an occasional magazine
1983 The Blue Boat, No. 2 Jean Follain
1984 Far Oak Ridge Laurie Clark
1985 On Greta Bridge Published jointly with Underwich Editions, Canada; 500 copies
1986 The Idle Road Laurie Clark 250 copies of which 20 are signed and hand-coloured
1987 Six Triolets Laurie Clark
1989 Through White Villages
1989 The Flowers of Ben Lawers Laurie Clark
1990 Coire Fhionn Lochan Laurie Clark
1990 From Sea To Sea
1991 Forest, Mountain, City
1991 The Philosophy Of Furniture Simon Cutts Laurie Clark
1991 The Teachings of Huang Po
1992 Of Shade And Shadow
1992 On A Line From Yeats
1993 A Collect
1994 Gold And Silver Laurie Clark Christmas Card
1994 Larch Covert
1995 Apples And Intervals
1995 Glade
1995 The Shape Changer Laurie Clark
1995 Three Exercises
1995 Two Landscapes
1996 Morning, Evening
1997 A Standard Of Music Laurie Clark
1997 An Interval
1997 May The Best Hour
1997 Taking Up Again
1997 Three Wishes
1997 A Melting of Snowflakes Christmas Card
1998 At Dusk & At Dawn
1998 Four Greetings Laurie Clark Christmas Card
1999 Forest Without Trees
1999 Shieling In The Brambles
1999 Stone
1999 Here is Rosemary Laurie Clark Christmas Card
2000 Branches and Quinces Christmas Card
2001 Twelve Proverbs Laurie Clark
2001 Sparrows Laurie Clark Christmas Card
2004 Gorse River Sequence Laurie Clark for Peter Larkin
2004 The Year Of The Water Rail Laurie Clark
2005 Frost & Snow Laurie Clark for Richard Valentine (Secondhand Bookseller, Nailsworth)
2005 Harebell Laurie Clark
2006 Blue
2006 Hazel Wood
2006 Wild Strawberries Laurie Clark
2007 Dusk
2007 Floating Island
2007 Flow
2007 Little Burn
2007 Four Fruits (2)
2007 In The Black Wood
2007 Tràigh Balla
2007 Whenever You Linger
2006/7 Postcards set of 6
2008 Colour in the island
2008 From Many Waters
2008 Learning to be Blue
2008 of Woods & Water
2008 Sgiath nan Tarmachan
2008 Some Imaginary Flowers for Eck
2008 Spring Summer
2008 Still Life with Fruit and Flower
2008 Taste is to Whisk
2009 A Lamp of Fish Oil Christmas Card
2010 Sylviidae Laurie Clark
2010 Delight; Fragrance; Thrift Laurie Clark 3 card set
2010 Suspicion of Beauty Laurie Clark 5 card set
2010/2011 Leave-Taking; Clearing; Crocus Laurie Clark 3 card set
2011 Dipper Laurie Clark
2011 Mint
2011 Unfolding Brightness Christmas Card
2012 Gaelic Flowers
2013 Jay Laurie Clark
2014 The Grove Of Delight
2015 Mist & Mountain Laurie Clark
2015 The Quiet Island Laurie Clark
2015 With Laurie Clark
2016 Dove
2016 Star of Bethlehem Christmas Card
2017 The Fort Of Stillness
undated An Lochan Uaine
undated An Affinity Of Eye And Petal Laurie Clark
undated Adoxa Printed in Fife

Other published works by Thomas A. Clark include:

  • Bo Heem E Um No.1 - Poems/Editor - Greenock, 1966. (Includes two concrete poems by Dom Sylvester Houédard)
  • ARC 8 (number 15) - Arc, Gillingham, Kent, 1970
  • Some Particulars - The Jargon Society, 1971
  • Epitaphs for Lorine - The Jargon Society, 1973
  • Pointing Still - Arc Publications, Gillingham, Kent, 1974
  • A Still Life - The Jargon Society, Dentdale 1977
  • Arrangement In A Blue Jug - Arnica Press, 1977 (frontispiece by Laurie Clark; 100 signed and numbered copies of which 50 on hand-made paper, 50 on Hochu paper)
  • Fragments Of A Walled Garden - Braad Editions, Bretenoux, France, 1977 (illustrations by Laurie Clark; 275 copies of which 26 are signed and numbered)
  • Pebbles From A Japanese Garden - Topia Press, New York, 1977 (illustrations by Laurie Clark; 200 copies of which 26 are signed)
  • Poetry Information, 18 - Interview by Glyn Pursglove - Peter Hodgkins, London, 1977
  • A Ruskin Sketchbook - Coracle Press, London, 1979 (500 copies)
  • The Pocket Glade Dictionary - Coach House Press, Toronto, 1980 (300 copies)
  • Madder Lake - Coach House Press, Toronto, 1981
  • A Garden In The Hills / Un Jardin sur les Monts - Atelier de l'Agneau, Herstal, Belgium, 1981
  • Review No 17 - Aggie Weston's, 1981 (with cover illustration by Laurie Clark)
  • The Brothers - New Arcadian's Journal no. 8 - New Arcadians, Bradford, 1982 (with illustration by Laurie Clark; 250 numbered copies)
  • Adventures Among Birds - Chocolate News Books, Camberwell, 1982 (200 copies)
  • In The Open Air - screen prints by John Christie - Circle Press, Guildford, 1982
  • Ways Through Bracken - The Jargon Society, 1983
  • Twenty Poems - Grosseteste, 1983
  • In Praise Of Walking - Cairn Gallery, Nailsworth, 1988 (reprinted 1977 by Walking Bird Press and East Coast Trail Association, Newfoundland, 1977 in 500 numbered copies)
  • Riasg Buidhe - with Roger Ackling, 1987
  • The Homecoming - Prest Roots Press, Kenilworth, 1988
  • Silences of Noons, The Work of F L Griggs (1876-1938) - Exhibition Catalogue - Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, 1988
  • Dwellings & Habitations - Prest Roots Press, Kenilworth, 1993
  • that which appears - Paragon Press, London, 1994 (250 signed copies, 100 with woodcut by Ian McKeever)
  • Clashconnachie - Sad Iron Press, 1998
  • One Hundred Scottish Places - Parnassus Press, Eindhoven, 1999 (250 copies)
  • Exchanges - with Ian Hamilton Finlay - Wild Hawthorn Press, 1999 (illustrations by Laurie Clark)
  • Poet's Poems No. 1 - (Editor) - Aggie Weston's Editions, 2000
  • Distance & Proximity - Pocketbooks; Morning Star Publications; Polygon; Taigh Chearsabhagh; National Galleries of Scotland, 2000
  • The Path to the Sea - Arc Publications, Todmorden, 2005
  • Doire Fhearna - Empty Hands Broadside #8 - Country Valley Press, Gardnerville, NV (100 copies of which 26 are signed)
  • I den klare lufta - Nordsjøforlaget, Norway, 2007
  • Grey - Longhouse, Green River VT, 2007
  • The Hundred Thousand Places - Carcanet Press, 2008
  • The Hidden Place - site specific wall painting at Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, 2010; also issued as screen print - 100 signed and numbered copies
  • Yellow & Blue - Carcanet Press, 2014
  • Shade - Corbel Stone Press, 2014 (illustrations by Laurie Clark; 60 copies plus 12 signed and numbered with hand-coloured illustration)
  • Farm By The Shore - Carcanet Press, 2017

Other publications featuring drawings by Laurie Clark include:

  • A Walk Round Stroud - Stroud Civic Society, 1980
  • The Englishwoman's Garden - Chatto & Windus, 1980
  • A Country Lane - with Ian Hamilton Finlay - Wild Hawthorn Press, 1983
  • The Englishman's Garden - Penguin, 1985
  • Docking Competitions - with Erica Van Horn - Coracle, Docking, Norfolk, 1995
  • In A Dark Wood - Exhibition at Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, November 1994 to January 1995
  • Parnassus Parnassia - Parnassus Press, Eindhoven, 1998
  • 100 Buttercups - WAX366; Fife Contemporary Art & Craft, 2010. Special Editions lettered A-Z include unique pencil drawing.
  • 100 Harebells - 2012

References

  1. ^ Scottish Poetry Library (c. 2006). "Poets' A-Z " Thomas A Clark". Scottish Poetry Library. Archived from the original on 11 June 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2007.
  2. ^ a b "Thomas A. Clark | Poetry | Scottish Poetry Library". www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  3. ^ Elizabeth James (c. 2001). "Laurie Clark: Fourteen days in North Uist" (PDF). Visual Research Centre. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 February 2006. Retrieved 15 February 2007.
  4. ^ Peter Finch, ed. (1974). "Small press scene : received late". Second Aeon. 19–21 (Final issue). Retrieved 18 February 2006.
  5. ^ COPAC (2007). "COPAC brief record display : Search terms: Moschatel Press, Scotland" (Database search result (HTML)). COPAC. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
  6. ^ For an on-line example of their themes see: Clark, Thomas A. (2007). "Thomas A. Clark". Thomas A. Clark. Archived from the original (FLASH) on 11 February 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
  7. ^ Poetry, Oxford. "Oxford Poetry — Since 1910". www.oxfordpoetry.co.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  8. ^ Some Particulars. Millerton, NY and Bletchley, Bucks: The Jargon Society. 1971. pp. End Cover.
  9. ^ "Thomas A Clark – New Stobhill Hospital Glasgow". peterfoolen.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2017.