|
|
TORONTO SCENEAleph (1961)As the 1960s opened, there was only one small press operation in Toronto, the Contact Press, but there was evidence that a poetry “scene” was beginning to surface. The Bohemian Embassy served as an important meeting place and venue for local poets, and little magazines began to proliferate. Occasionally there were independent ventures such as Gwendolyn MacEwen's Aleph Press, the imprint she used to publish her first two slender chapbooks: Saleh and The Drunken Clock.
For many unknown poets, self-publishing is one way to gain exposure and attract a readership. Although her poems were appearing in little magazines, MacEwen published her first two books Saleh and The Drunken Clock. Permission for use of Gwendolyn MacEwen’s work granted by the author’s family.
Isaacs Gallery (1962)
Original etching and cover by Graham Coughtry. The Isaacs Gallery served as an important venue for the Toronto avant-garde. The Gallery was host to the Contact Press reading series directed by Raymond Souster and several books consequently appeared. Cover reproduced by permission of Kenneth McRobbie.
Ganglia Press and Fleye Press (1965-1988)In 1965 bpNichol and David Aylward founded Ganglia Press, the core of the concrete and visual poetry movement in Toronto. Originally conceived as a magazine, Ganglia soon evolved into grOnk, one of the great ventures in Canadian concrete poetry publishing. The range of material -- which was more often mimeographed than printed and distributed by mailing list -- is astounding for its variety and inventiveness. Another small press dedicated to visual poetry was David W. Harris's short-lived Fleye Press; Harris edited the magazine luv for poemz and produced a series of broadsides under the collective title: Blue Light Series.
Ganglia Press (1965-1988)
Courtesy of David McKnight. Cover reproduced by permission of Eleanor Nichol.
Cover photo of the editors: from left to right, David Aylward, David W. Harris, bpNichol and Ray Smith. The cover was printed at The Coach House Press. Courtesy of David McKnight. Cover reproduced by permission of Eleanor Nichol.
Designed by Nelson Ball with illustrations of the author by Barbara Caruso. Published in an edition of 235 copies. Courtesy of David McKnight. Cover reproduced by permission of Barbara Caruso and Nelson Ball.
Book design by Nelson Ball and cover design by Barbara Caruso. Published in an edition of 500 copies. Cover reproduced by permission of Gerry Gilbert.
Fleye Press (1966-67)
David Harris (a.k.a. David UU), published six issues of his concrete poetry magazine, several as chapbooks including those by bill bissett, bpNichol and Ruth Cranston. © The Estate of David UU. Cover reproduced by permission of Ingrid Harris.
Printed at The Coach House Press. © The Estate of David UU. Cover reproduced by permission of Ingrid Harris.
Printed at The Coach House Press with cover design and Hudson Bay Company ad satire by Victor Coleman. © The Estate of David UU. Cover reproduced by permission of Ingrid Harris.
House of Anansi (1967-)Founded in 1967 by Dennis Lee and David Godfrey, the House of Anansi Press is certainly one of the most important literary presses to emerge in the 1960s. Anansi’s first address was on Spadina Avenue just minutes away from The Coach House Press. The presses issued a joint catalogue in 1968 and The Coach House Press designed and printed a number of Anansi titles. Prestige came quickly to the Press; the Anansi reprint of Margaret Atwood's The Circle Game won the Governor-General's award for poetry in 1967. Although poetry dominated Anansi’s early list, its publishing program expanded to include poetry, fiction and literary criticism throughout the 1970s. Dennis Lee. Kingdom of Absence. Toronto: House of Anansi, 1967. The first book from the House of Anansi Press.
David Godfrey. Death Goes Better With Coca Cola. Toronto: Anansi, [196-?] Cover design by Linda Leslie. An ardent Canadian nationalist, this was Godfrey's anti-American salvo.
Douglas Fetherling. The United States of Heaven. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 1968. Cover photograph by Stan Bevington. During this period, there was a working relationship between Anansi and The Coach House Press which were minutes away from one another in central Toronto.
Dennis Lee, ed. T.O. Now. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 1967. A year after New Wave Canada appeared, Lee published this anthology of younger Toronto poets.
© Matt Cohen, 1969. Cover reproduced by permission of Matt Cohen.
Cover reproduced by permission of Graeme Gibson.
Weed/Flower Press (1965-1973)Weed. No 1. Edited by Nelson Ball, Weed appeared for 12 issues between 1966 and 1967. An eclectic magazine, Ball published work by a number of important Canadian, American and European experimental poets.
Cover reproduced by permission of Nelson Ball.
This was the first small press "chapbook" ever to win the Governor General’s Award for poetry (shared with Michael Ondaatje for The Collected Works of Billy the Kid). Courtesy of Nelson Ball. Cover reproduced by permission of Eleanor Nichol. |
