Previously managing director of Faber and Faber, Toby Faber is now a non-executive director of the firm and Chairman of its sister company Faber Music. An author in his own right, Faber has written two books Fabergé’s Eggs and Stradivari’s Genius: Five Violins, One Cello, and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection, both successful, neither of them published by Faber. Born in Cambridge, England, in 1965, he lives in London with his wife and daughter.

We met recently to talk about his family’s renowned publishing firm, its history and how interested parties might best go about collecting its publications. Our conversation took place at Faber HQ in London specifically at the same table Toby’s grandfather Geoffrey frequently sat at years ago with T.S. Eliot, Richard de la Mare and other iconic members of the Faber family.

This interview is part of our  Book Publisher Series which focuses on the histories of important British, American and Canadian publishing houses, and how best to go about collecting their works.

Copyright © 2010 by Nigel Beale. www.nigelbeale.com

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How wonderfully appropriate that we should spot this Shaggy Ink Mushroom 

in front of John Randle’s Whittington Press shop in Gloucestershire

during a recent visit. Stay tuned for the audio.

Toronto International Antiquarian Book Fair tomorrow morning…

"After a fifteen year hiatus, this outstanding show will again bring booksellers and bibliophiles together for a three day event. Sponsored by the ABAC, it joins the prestigious New York, California and Boston fairs on the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers’ (ILAB) North American calendar.

As the only international antiquarian and collectible book fair in Canada, the TIABF is attracting exhibitors from across Europe and North America. All exhibitors are members of their national associations and of the ILAB and are, therefore, among the world’s foremost booksellers. They will bring a wide ranging selection of books, maps, prints and manuscripts for your perusal – including travel and exploration; natural history, science and technology; children’s and illustrated; fine press and limited editions; modern first editions and signed volumes; antiquarian and incunabula; as well as interesting and unusual books of all kinds." 

American Mine (Nevada 10) The Mining Project  David Maisel, (via wood s lot)

Watch the bottle…

"…the first edition is the only edition of which we can be sure that the author read the proofs – if he read any proofs. He might revise a later edition, but you are not to suppose he did more than check his changes. So unless you have a photographic facsimile – which is bound to be less attractive – nothing but the first edition can tell you, beyond a peradventure, what the author passed as authentic. This is indeed a matter rather for the scholar than the collector. But many scholars, if their interest is literary, are collectors; and many collectors, if they are not scholars, are – at least – scholarly. Secondly – I limit myself to two points – the first edition is that which flattered the author’s eye. The copy we are handling may be that very copy; if not, it is uncommonly like it, and we can in some measure redintegrate the thrill of pleasure with which he turned the leaves – opening them, we must hope, not like Wordsworth with the butter knife, but with a silver or ivory blade – sharp, but not too sharp.

But the virtue on which I insist is, again, that which comes from period."

R.W. Chapman in Book Collecting, (Cambridge, 1950)

Stockholm Library

from Brian Busby’s The Dusty Bookshelf

Frank Newfeld  is a Canadian book designer, illustrator, art director and educator.

He has designed over 650 books and won more than 170 Canadian and international awards,  is a former Vice-President of Publishing at McClelland & Stewart and  Head of the Illustration Program at Sheridan College,  and Co-founder of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada

Newfeld has written and designed three children’s books, two of them published by Oxford University Press and one by Groundwood Books (Douglas & McIntyre). In 2008 his memoir  Drawing on Type was published by Porcupine’s Quill.

We talk here about the origins of his career as a book designer and illustrator, about some of his innovations, about the books he considers his best, and about which of his titles the collector might fruitfully pursue.

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Copyright Nigel Beale 2010

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