Cameron Anstee

Recent Acquisitions | October 2013

Ball, Nelson and Barbara Caruso. Points of Attention. Toronto: Weed/Flower Press, 1971.

I’ve coveted this book for years now, and finally have a copy on my shelf. Points of Attention was published in 1971 as a collaboration between Barbara Caruso and Nelson Ball in a tiny edition of 50 copies. Typesetting was done at Coach House and printing was done by the Bell Offset Company. It includes eleven poems by Ball, and six serigraphs by Caruso. My copy is number 20 of 50 (and each serigraph is similarly numbered 20/50). My copy does not have the two information slips originally issued, headed “The Poet” and “The Artist” according to Nicky Drumbolis in Nelson Ball Cited.

According to Kay Kritzwiser in the Globe and Mail (“The beautiful small books from Ball and Caruso,” 16 February 1972), “Points of Attention is their major production. It’s a rarely beautiful hard-cover book, limited to an edition of 50, of which 40 are for sale…the six silkscreen prints tipped into each edition of Points of Attention have an uncanny understanding of pure color relationships…”

Points of Attention is a nice companion piece to Ball’s 1970 Coach House collection The Pre-Linguistic Heights. The Pre-Linguistics Heights has a cover design by Barbara that is clearly a related piece of artwork to the serigraphs in Points of Attention.

The first volume of her published journals, A Painter’s Journey: 1966-1973 (Toronto: Mercury Press, 2005), details the collaboration. The first mention of the book comes on April 19, 1971: “We are working toward a book of poems and prints. Nelson suggests Points of Attention for the title. He is working on the layout now. I have begun drawings toward prints.” Barbara began printing the serigraphs on May 16, 1971, and finished the printing on May 28. Her journals reveal her tremendous labour and attention to detail—printing editions of between 60-75 of each print to ensure 50 clean copies, redesigning and reprinting two of the prints, and re-arranging their order in the book multiple times. The book went to the binders on July 2, 1971. It was finished and in their hands by the time Barbara returned to her journal on July 14: “After getting advice on how to price it from Marty [Ahvenus] ($50), Jim Lowell (17.50) and Jack Pollock ($75), Nelson decided on $47.50. Thirteen copies have gone out already and we have sales on four more. Nelson is still tipping in the prints” (127). The project was completed in time for their trip to Europe, funded by the Canada Council grant each received in 1971, and a copy was brought along to show art galleries and bookstores during their three months of travel.

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Truhlar, Richard. Nicky Drumbolis Interview. Toronto: ROOM 3o2 BOOKS, 1990.

Drumbolis, Nicky. Let Literature Language. Toronto: CURVD H&Z 351, 1987.

Two Nicky Drumbolis items picked up recently from jwcurry. The interview by recently-deceased Richard Truhlar is enlightening, and says things about bookselling that I have been struggling to articulate in my ongoing dissertation proposal, including the notion of “contributive bookselling” wherein “the bookseller acts a kind of cultural…what?…midwife or traffic cop or something like this & not only stocks books but somehow contextualizes what he or she knows/has at his or her command.” He argues for a sense of responsibility on the part of the bookseller to the books, to the community, and to the history of small press. This should be required reading for anyone who sells or handles books.

Let Literature Language is a beautiful (and obscenity-filled) poem. This is the second edition of a poem originally published by Drumbolis himself through Letters in 1986. The CURVD H&Z hand-stamped process is something to aspire to in terms of the commitment to, labour in the service of, the work being published—“sheer fuckn majesty”.

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above/ground press 20^th anniversary fetish object. Ottawa: above/ground press, 2013.

Published on the occasion of the 20^th anniversary celebration of above/ground press (23 August 2013 at the Mercury Lounge in Ottawa), the “fetish object” is stunning. Christine McNair performed the labour, detailed as followed: “All broadsides lightly trimmed by the butcherous bookbinder and collected into an edition of ten. Each set is housed in a leather and paper slipcase. Slipcase was covered in weathered calf-skin with laid paper sides and was fancied into being by Christine McNair.” If you missed this on the night, you truly missed out. At the price they were selling it, I should have bought two, but that would have been greedy as there were only 10 produced. I snagged copy 2 by dumb luck.

The set includes 31 “poem” broadsides, and touches on the huge range of aesthetic and poetic interests rob has nurtured over twenty years. Poems from Marilyn Irwin, Jamie Bradley, Pearl Pirie, Sandra Ridley, Gwendolyn Guth and others show some of the Ottawa community represented, while poems from Stephanie Bolster, derek beaulieu, George Bowering, Phil Hall, Gil McElroy and others show how above/ground managed to reach beyond the city.

Also included is a bibliography of the 332 “poem” broadsides published up to the date that the “fetish object” came into existence.

I’ve still got copies of the extended interview with rob mclennan about the history of above/ground press that I published through Apt. 9 this past August as well. Copies can be purchased online here, or in person at the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair this coming Saturday.

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Not a book, but there is also this wonderful 50-minute Jim Bryson concert up at VIMEO, performed in someone’s living room in Yellowknife. Wish we’d been there, but its got us pretty excited for his annual Black Sheep Inn Christmas Show.

Apt. 9 Fall Launch

The details of Apt. 9’s fall launch (with books from Rhonda Douglas, Spencer Gordon, and jesslyn delia smith) have been sorted out. Following the link in the image above for full details!

Happy 60th Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad’s 60th birthday. I’m not sure if Nigel Beale knows that fact, but today he posted a long interview with dad about his once-immense, and still substantial, Jack Kerouac collection. You can listen to the interview here.

My life mirrors my dad’s in innumerable ways. I can trace my pursuit of a PhD in English Literature to a summer spent reading through the core of the main component of his Kerouac Collection. I was in my first summer of traffic counting for the City of Ottawa, a job that my dad (and mom) had done decades earlier. On a two year break from grad school, I worked at the wonderful Octopus Books, where my dad was still working at the time. I regularly contact booksellers outside of Ottawa who still know and remember my dad (on more than one occasion I’ve received the “Rod Anstee” discount). I could go on.

The Kerouac Collection was a force in our household while I was growing up. The sheer scale of it dominated different rooms in the house at different times. I have vivid memories of moving parts of it as the house evolved. People visited (and sometimes stayed) to examine the collection. George Bowering. Gerald Nicosia. Jim Christy was a regular visitor. Carolyn Cassady spent a few days with us. Dad wrote and published an annotated bibliography of bootleg Kerouac material with Water Row that can still be found online. When I see a book about Kerouac in a store in Ottawa, I often recognize it as a piece from the collection that was sold off at some point. As I read further into the collection, Dad revealed different parts that weren’t on shelves, that were tucked away in closets and boxes and storage. I saw a lot of it growing up, but have no real sense of how extensive it was at its peak.

20130909_122119 — Bits of the Kerouac Collection that have migrated to my shelves.

Bookstores were visited weekly. Dad spent innumerable hours driving me to and from soccer practices, games, tournaments, and everything else that went along with the sport. If there was a bookstore near a field, we stopped before or after. I certainly didn’t appreciate it at the time, but dad passes me books now that I have no doubt were picked up on these trips and it amazes me to think of the paths of those books to my shelves today. Books were inescapable in the house, and I appreciate that today more than ever. Reading was encouraged and supported, but never forced on me or my sisters. I was aware of the Kerouac Collection, and in some vague way of the importance of the collection, but I approached the books finally on my own time.

534003_10152301427010475_2138092811_n — Undated bookstore visit. I must be four or five years old.

Pictured below is the first copy of On the Road I read. Not the finest copy in the collection, haha, but I still have it (I’m certain that I did in the spine, dad wouldn’t have allowed that to happen). Next to it is a third printing of the first edition that dad trusted me with later.

The collection, and all of the books in our house, nurtured a respect for books as literature and as objects. Moving the books between shelves and floors, and being trusted to do so, let me handle hundreds and thousands of beautiful books in excellent condition. My partner Jenn mocks the way I read books today, saying that you can’t even tell a book has been opened after I’ve read through it.

The Kerouac is not as central as it once was. Dad has moved on to other interests, but he pursues them with the same passion. The focus, the knowledge, the dedication, and the respect that Dad brings to these pursuits continues to amaze and inspire me. I don’t have the words to thank Dad for all of this, and an awful lot more in my life. I don’t have to look very far for a model to aspire to.

If you’ve got (or had) an interest in Kerouac, or book collecting, please give the interview a listen and glimpse of bit of what I am lucky enough to have access to in my dad.

I spent a while going through childhood photos this morning, but couldn’t find many with Dad in the photo. Of course, he was behind the camera. There are two below. One, dad celebrating a birthday of mine. The second, Dad in our backyard on Cahill. Can you see the resemblance?

Happy 60th Birthday, Dad!

Great-Mini-South-Eastern-Ontario Short Story & Poetry Tour – Audio

Early in August, I was lucky enough to read in Ottawa with Michael e. Casteels, Christine Miscione and Nicholas Papaxanthos as part of their “Great-Mini-South-Eastern-Ontario Short Story & Poetry Tour.” Below you’ll find full audio of the reading, recorded by Nicholas Papaxanthos. Thank you to Michael, Christine and Nick for having me along for the Ottawa stop of the tour, and thank you to Nick for allowing me to host the audio here. As well, it should be noted that Dave Currie played an edited version of this audio on his August 22, 2013 installment of Literary Landscapes on CKCU FM 93.1.

Raw Sugar | Saturday August 10 2013 (Papaxanthos, Miscione, Anstee, Casteels)

(Photo by Jenn Huzera)

July Updates

I will be reading on Saturday August 10 at 2pm at Raw Sugar as part of the Great-Mini-South-Eastern-Ontario Short Story & Poetry Tour. Christine Miscione, Nicholas Papaxanthos and Michael e. Casteels are hitting the road together and reading in Hamilton, Cobourg, Kingston and Ottawa (with local writers in each town). I’m lucky enough to be on the Ottawa bill and can’t wait. Hopefully everyone can make it out. Raw Sugar is a great place to be on a Saturday afternoon and the reading should be excellent. Thanks to the touring writers for having me on board!

I had a poem featured on the Dusie blog recently courtesy of the rob-mclennan-curated Tuesday poem series. I’m very happy to be in such fine company. Thanks to rob and thanks to Dusie! Read back through some of the other Tuesday poems, and see what else Dusie is up to.

In Apt. 9 Press news, the ‘press’ of the name is taking on a new, literal dimension. I recently acquired a Kelsey Excelsior Model N 5×8 table top press, pictured below. It isn’t quite functional yet, but hopefully by this time next year Apt. 9 might be producing its first letterpress items. My optimism is naive and complete.

The press was purchased from Richard Coxford who was selling it on behalf of Otto Graser. Otto ran Arlington Books in Ottawa and also ran Black Squirrel Press. Shortly after bringing the press home, I found a book published and illustrated by Otto at Argosy Books. in twenty words or less is a book of short poems by David Collins paired with line drawings by Otto Graser. Otto’s odd drawings set off the brief poems nicely. The book was published in 1994.

Otto’s bio reads:

Otto Graser is a retired architect now luxuriating in print-making, computer graphics and publishing. His art work has appeared in or on various Canadian & US books, anthologies and journals. Otto Graser is the proprietor of Arlington Books.

Otto is credited for “Graphic Art” in the book. The drawings feel like computer illustrations to me (rooted in 1994 technology), but also in some places bring Joe Brainard’s illustrations to mind.

It seemed like a good omen for the press to come across a book by its previous owner immediately after bringing it home. We’ll see where it goes!

On the Merit of Book Catalogues

Taylor, Archer. Book Catalogues: Their Varieties and Uses. Chicago: The Newberry Library, 1957.

[A dealer’s] catalogue of books in stock has, nevertheless, the conspicuous merit of listing books that were in existence.

Ottawa Small Press Book Fair Roundup (June 2013)

Back from the book fair with far too much to discuss in the detail any of it deserves. Below are some notes on a few standout items I picked up.

At the pre-fair reading on Friday, I got my hands on an envelope from jwcurry’s 1cent/Room 3o2. I subscribed several months ago when jwcurry revealed that he was printing again. The subscription information, for those interested, is as follows: “$10 canada/$15 USA/$20 elsewhere per year regardless of whether any issues actually appear.” At $10, it is well worth it. In Found (1cent #402), jwcurry explains that it has been almost four years between 1cent #400 and 1cent #401. He briefly documents a number of ongoing projects that have kept him occupied and productive, despite the relative silence from 1cent, among them installments of Messagio Galore, ongoing work with his bpNichol bibliography, research and experiments in reproducing the work of Toronto graffitist P.Cob in Ottawa and elsewhere, as well as “the WELCOME TO CONCRETE anthology of canadian concrete poetry—to be printed on, among other surfaces, concrete.” Additionally, he has been uploading images to Flickr regularly, compiling an astonishing set of albums. jwcurry is a busy man. Given the painstaking nature of his printing practices, it is not a surprise that he took some time away. As each letter is handstamped in these productions, $10 feels almost comically inexpensive.

1cent is producing the best minimal poems in Canada that I am aware of. I aspire to write something as wonderful as the Lance LaRocque poem here (“Time Lapse,” 1cent #405). The latest round includes a single poem from Hugh Thomas (“Fresh Morning,” 1cent #404) as well as the small collection in lieu of review (1cent #403) that isolates brief individual poems (or sections of poems?) from larger collections. The LaRocque poem is a standout here, but I am also quite taken with Rachel Zavitz’s untitled poem from 1cent #401, produced with a concrete piece from Jesse Ferguson on the cover.

Sign up to get all of this, what are you waiting for? Room 3o2 also has Canadian small press books (among loads of other things) that you should be buying. Address your inquiries to jwcurry, #302-880 Somerset St. W., Ottawa ON Canada K1R 6R7.

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Michael Casteels made the trip down from Kingston with his Puddles of Sky Press. Michael read at the pre-fair reading, launching his new chapbook of prose poems, The Robot Dreams. He also brought along a new chapbook from Jason Heroux, In Defence of the Attacked Center Pawn.

I’m a fan of Puddles of Sky, and am impressed with the way that the material productions are developing. These chapbooks look great, the layouts are clean and considered, the designs serves the poems. Heroux’s book will take me more time to digest given its surreal bent, but there are lovely passages here that make me want to return. The first three lines of the book:

There’s no place to sit on this bus full of bones

going to cemetery. I should have taken the bus

full of blossoms on their way to the trees.

I am more familiar with Michael’s concrete work (a piece of which is apparently forthcoming through 1cent in the WELCOME TO CONCRETE anthology mentioned above), and was pleased to see a different side to his writing here. These pieces might have been easily classed as tiny stories. They are funny, and sad, and generous in their perspectives on the world and on other people:

Crumbs

On a plate, crumbs. Plate, filthy with crumbs. Crumbs on the counter. The counter, ashamed. Toast is crumbly. Crumbly is where crumbs come from. I refuse. I refuse to clean the crumbs. Who am I, to decide the fate of a crumb? The crumbs appreciate kind gestures. The mice appreciate the crumbs. Living this way, I am never alone.

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In/Words, a press I have a fondness for and personal investment in, released a new chapbook from editor Chris Johnson, Phyllis, I have never spoke your name.

I feel a connection to this book. Johnson wrote the poems for a course at Carleton, “Feminists and Feminism in Canada” taught by Sophie Tamas after “months of reading Phyllis Webb and opening his eyes to the inequalities in the world.” Years ago, as I have discussed elsewhere, I wrote a chapbook length poem in response to Phyllis Webb for a course at Carleton, a chapbook also published by In/Words. Tonally, these poems feel different than the work I know from Johnson. There is a new and developing restraint here in step with the clean production of the chapbook. It is a good thing for a young poet to sit down with Phyllis Webb’s work, and the results are positive here for Johnson. I am not sure how to excerpt from it, so here is the shortest piece from the book, preceded on the page by the full text of Irving Layton’s infamous “Misunderstanding”:

I would question the movement

but not the intention—

it is sure that

questions are what need to be questioned,

the movements are what need to be moving—

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My absolute favourite purchase of the fair was An Easy Place to Die: Hard Boiled Epigrams from Jason at Three Bats Press. This is the second in a series. The first, In The Darkness, was published in 2012.

These two little letterpress books are among the most unique books on my shelves, and are beautifully produced to boot. The series features “extracts from Canadian noir mystery novels” turned into wonderful, bizarre, and brief found poems that draw out the absurd beauty of noir writing. This installment features the novels of David Montrose, apparently “the pen name of Charles Ross Graham.” Montrose published four novels according to Jason’s note at the back, the first three featuring the character Russell Teed: “By the time the stories have ended, he has been beaten, often, humiliated, and robbed. He has seen strangers, friends, and lovers killed. He has also nearly been killed and he himself has killed more than once, sometimes quite viciously. The bottle becomes a refuse and it is easy to imagine Teed disappearing into it.”

From An Easy Place to Die:

She

At least

Thought

She

Was being

Honest.

-from The Crime on Cote Des Neiges (1951)

And from In The Darkness:

The moon disappeared.

The silence was filthy.

-from Flee From Terror (1957).

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Odourless Press made a triumphant return to Ottawa for the fair, bringing along four new productions and getting editor, publisher and bookmaker Bardia Sinaee up to read at the pre-fair reading. Odourless has come a long way from the tiny, enveloped productions of 2011. Sinaee, newly-graduated and underemployed, has taken the opportunity to dive into book making with an energy and enthusiasm that should get anyone worked up about the possibilities of chapbook publishing. These new items (two chapbooks, two broadsides) are playful and unique, each item stands alone aesthetically. Sinaee is clearly pushing himself to explore the craft, and is striving to create items that respond individually to the work he is publishing. You should read his contributions to this interview Andrew Faulker did with Odourless, Ferno House, and my own Apt. 9.

There is more than one Ottawa connection here too. Sinaee recently returned to Toronto (or Etobicoke), there is a broadside from Ben Ladouceur (another recent-ish transplant to Toronto from Ottawa), and Suzannah Showler has a chapbook here (one time of Ottawa, now with a recent Bronwen Wallace shortlisting to her name and a forthcoming first trade collection). The set is rounded out with a broadside from Ferno House’s Mat Laporte (with a full chapbook to follow) and a chapbook from Matthew Walsh. There are too many items to discuss in proper detail here, but Odourless has, since its beginning, published smart, sharp, quick, funny, almost-manic poems. Bardia’s tastes gives the entire Odourless universe a certain coherence. From my experience with Bardia around In/Words, he has a keen editorial eye and an educated critical perspective to back up his positions. The full shape of what he is after through Odourless will start to be clearer in three or four years time, but the excitement and enthusiasm of these productions is to be celebrated. Sinaee is young, his poets are young, and the press is young. This is all to his advantage, and I’ll be curious to see how it develops as Sinaee and his tastes age. If I’m not mistaken, the second printings of many of these items are already sold out. Contact Bardia to find out if you’re already out of luck. You wish you had the full Odourless bibliography.

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Dog Bites Cameron Books is an operation I am not entirely sure how to speak about here. I am the Cameron of the name, derived from a false story about one of Dave Currie and Lara Wlodarczyk’s dogs biting me. At the book fair, Dog Bites Cameron released its second production, A Pack of Lies from J.M. Francheteau. The first book from the press, So Far by Jordan Chevalier, was released in March at Versefest.

The two items are clearly different objects, a fact noted in the back of the Francheteau production: “Dog Bites Cameron Books is evolving. This second effort marks a sharp departure from the hardcover book format of [So Far]. As editors and designers, we are learning new techniques and new approaches to book making. We are utilizing our knowledge to craft our designs to specific works that our authors send us.” The stated goal of Lara and Dave is to create a “unique tactile experience” for each piece of work produced. This is a worthwhile ambition, and on those terms Dog Bites Cameron is succeeding so far. These are unique objects. At the same time, the productions suffer a bit from this wide-ranging ambition. Hardcover book binding is a delicate art, as is box-making. So Far and A Pack of Lies both feel like preliminary, and perhaps overextended, efforts at these arts. I suspect the editors are aware of this, that the objects themselves aren’t as clean as they might have hoped. The cutting of the pages in the Francheteau book is inconsistent, for example, and the box is coming undone in the middle.

That being said, there remains much to be admired here. Hand-sewn perfect bound books, loose pages bound in hand-constructed boxes, these are things to celebrate. The prints by Lara Wlodarczyk in the Francheteau book are especially impressive. Vibrant and bright, they complement the poems. (Apologies for the blurry image below):

Francheteau’s poems are fairly long, and the complexity of the book has kept me from giving it the time I’ll need to really digest the work at this early stage, so I’ll resist comment on the poems here. This entry is perhaps more an acknowledgement of the arrival of Dog Bites Cameron. Welcome to the scene! We’re happy to have you here! Love the logo! Keep up the ambitious and admirable work! And hang onto a copy of everything you produce for me!

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I bought far too much at the fair to discuss it all here, but I’ll wrap up with an item from Amanda Earl. At the bywords/AngelHousePress table, Amanda was giving away colourful, handpainted bottles stuffed with individual lines that call on the reader to construct poems. Information from Amanda: “Poemeceuticals in an edition of 10, all given away during the fair, another ephemeral production of Le Temps des Cerises, an imprint of AngelHousePress.” It is a clever, friendly gesture that makes the reader aware of their own creative participation in the entire process. I don’t know how many of these Amanda brought along, but I’m thrilled to have one at home. Playful and ambitious, exactly as Ottawa has come to expect from Amanda. Now, to figure out how it might fit on a bookshelf…

On Chapbook Making

I recently had the opportunity to answer some questions about chapbook making courtesy of Andrew Faulkner at Open Book: Toronto. I feel privileged to see Apt. 9 listed beside Toronto’s Ferno House and Toronto-via-Ottawa’s Odourless Press discussing young people making chapbooks. Mat Laporte (Ferno House) and Bardia Sinaee (Odourless) are thoughtful and articulate while I struggle along with poorly managed soccer metaphors. So it goes. Well worth a read! Get inspired to start a press, and be reminded why you started one already! The interview is in two parts. Find the second link at the bottom.

In other news, Jenn found this crate on our street on her way to the bus. My oldest sister thinks it must signal the beginning of a time travel adventure. Reports to follow from the future (or past) if such comes to pass.

David Mason on Starting and Starving in the Book Trade

Mason, David. “A Tale of Illusion, Delusion and Mystery: Booksellers and Librarians.” Descant 91 26:4 (Winter 1995): 15-37.

What really occurs is this: one buys books (without really having any idea if they are books that anyone wants) until one has a few thousand, rents an office or store and settles in to starve to death. This melancholy truth allows me to use here one of my favourite anecdotes, the one about the bookseller who wins a million in the lottery and when someone inquires what he intends to do with the winnings, he answers “Oh I don’t know, I guess I’ll just go on selling books until it’s all gone.” Booksellers laugh the loudest at this joke, always with a touch of sadness. My father didn’t laugh.

Cats and Bookstores

Mason, David. “Reflections on Scouting.” CNQ 78 (Winter): 40-52.

Concerning the “tiny bookshop run by the Crippled Civilians on Jarvis Street, familiarly known to the regulars as ‘The Crips,’ but now renamed more politically correctly Goodwill Services” circa 1967:

There was an ugly, fat cat in the shop, Mr. Fraser’s special favourite. It was horribly spoiled and cranky. It slept wherever it cared to, almost always, it seemed, stretched out over books you wanted to look at, and if you attempted to move it you could get clawed or badly bitten. Even worse if you riled the cat enough he might just piss on the books to teach you a lesson, ruining some pretty good books over the years. The whole place stunk of cat urine but it would be a fatal error if you had the temerity to complain to Mr. Fraser about the cat’s behaviour. Out you would go, banned for life. I saw this a few times when people unaware of Mr. Fraser’s affection for the cat spoke up about the stink. (44)