Photos of a selection of visually-interesting Coach House items from the first decade or so of the life of the press that I am lucky enough to have copies of, in alphabetical order.
Some history of the renowned press can be found here, including a video tour of the space with Stan Bevington. There is little I can say about the accomplishments of Coach House in terms of the aesthetic book-objects that they produced in the early years that hasn’t already been said by someone more articulate than I. This post is a simple visual acknowledgement of the beauty of the work they brought into the world of Canadian small press.
Ball, Nelson. The Pre-Linguistic Heights. Toronto: The Coach House Press, 1970.
Coleman, Victor. One Eye Love. Toronto: The Coach House Press, 1967.
Cull, David. Cancer Rising. Toronto: The Coach House Press, 1970.
Davey, Frank. Weeds. Toronto: The Coach House Press, 1970.
McCaffery, Steve. Ow’s Waif. Toronto: The Coach House Press, 1975.
McFadden, David. Poems Worth Knowing. Toronto: The Coach House Press, 1971.
bpNichol. Two Novels. Toronto: The Coach House Press, 1969. [Second Edition Pictured].
Ondaatje, Michael. The Dainty Monsters. Toronto: The Coach House Press, 1967.
Phillips, David. The Dream Outside. Toronto: The Coach House Press, 1967.
Rosenblatt, Joe. The LSD Leacock. Toronto: The Coach House Press, 1966. [Second Printing pictured]
Wah, Fred. Among. Toronto: The Coach House Press, 1972.
A pair of international writers:
cobbing, bob. bill jubobe: selected texts of bob cobbing 1942-1975. Toronto: The Coach House Press, 1976.
Warsh, Lewis. Part of My History. Toronto: The Coach House Press, 1972.
And as a little bonus, two House of Anansi titles (both of which one the Governor General’s Award) that were designed and printed at Coach House (see Stephen Cain’s dissertation, “Imprinting Identities: An Examination of the Emergence and Developing Identities of Coach House Press and House of Anansi Press (1967-1982) for further discussion of the relation between the two operations).
Bowering, George. The Gangs of Cosmos. Toronto: House of Anansi, 1969.
Ondaatje, Michael. The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left-Handed Poems. Toronto: House of Anansi, 1970.
Like many, I buy these when I see them. It is striking today, pulling them down from the shelves all together, to note that each of these titles is by a male writer. I don’t see too many women listed in the early years from Coach House in Tweny/20. I’m not sure how Anansi fared along these lines.
Cameron Anstee 