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Alec Bolton and His Brindabella Press is an account of a passion: that of a publisher and the books he made for himself and his friends, keeping alive craft traditions that were threatened by unrelenting change. 'Printing is like religion', Alec Bolton once said. 'We live in sin, but with the hope of perfection before us.' And while his life circled around books and writing generally, it was above all with his private press, the Brindabella Press, that he won acclaim as an Australian book arts practitioner. He worked with modest resources from a lost era of letterpress printing in a small printery at his home in Canberra. Starting with one-page poems and pamphlets, he sought always to print better books. His editions of writers such as Barbara Hanrahan, Les A. Murray and Kenneth Slessor are now scarce and sought after. At the heart of everything was the poet Rosemary Dobson, his wife, who first suggested he take up letterpress printing and who wrote three of Brindabella's most lovely books.The transformation of the publishing program at the National Library of Australia is also part of the story told in this biography, based on the Bolton Papers at the Library. Branching out from the traditional biography format, this book illuminates the story of this talented creator through examining key works produced by the Brindabella Press, creating an innovative 'bibliobiography'. --

Publishers and publishing --- Bookplate designers --- Private presses --- History. --- Bolton, Alec, --- Brindabella Press --- Officina Brindabella