An occasional newsletter about forthcoming books and events
 

September 2026

In this newsletter . . .

news of Ludlow Fine Book Fair

a book from our backlist

We will be there!

We will have our latest book (currently with the binders) - Pilgrimage Views - on sale, and possibly a small item we are working on at the moment, Twelve haiku for winter.

The Fair is being held at its usual venue: The Clive Pavilion, Ludlow Racecourse, Bromfield, Ludlow SY8 2BT.

Opening times are 1000 to 1700 on Saturday 17 October, and 1000 to 1600 on the Sunday.

There is plenty of free parking, and a cafe on site.

As well as presses there will be booksellers, bookbinders, book arts suppliers, marblers, . . . Fuller details at the Fair's website.

We hope to see you there.

A book from our backlist

I'm someone who enjoys colour, so when John Sutcliffe suggested a follow-up to his very successful The Colours of Rome it was not hard to say yes. It was a fine excuse for getting colour into a book for a very good reason.

In his capacity as a decorative artist, John did a great deal of work in the Cyclades, in particular on the small island of Schinoussa. One of the outcomes of this was a growing fascination with what happened to colour on the buildings of Greece and the islands in particular. Why are so many buildings today white? Has that always been the fashion there? White is what we tourists expect, but is that white authentic for the Cycladic islands in particular? John researched the answers to these questions, visiting the islands and examining the walls of older buildings, looking for traces of the ‘lost colours’ and their history. An enthusiastic cook, he also took the opportunity to sample – and weave into his researches – the cuisine of the Greek islands. Parallels emerge between colour and food, driven largely by the same external forces.

The Lost Colours of the Cyclades records twenty surprising colours. You can watch a video of it here.

The 'paint-outs' of the twenty colours John discovered on the buildings in the Cyclades are held in a portfolio inside the binding:

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Copyright © Martyn Ould 2026