We are just returned from the fourth opera (in as many days) of a noble and exciting cycle of Wagner's Ring from The Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg conducted by the thrilling Valery Gergiev. Oh yes . . . and we only had to get as far as the Wales Millennium Centre...

Anyone who has read our Bibliography, heard any talks we have given or talked with us for any time will know that the printer, Nicolas, has had no formal typographical training at all but puts whatever 'eye' and 'instinct' he may have developed in the design of books...

In the printing office, I am working on this year's Greetings Card - rather later than usual. I will keep you posted! Meanwhile I thought it might possibly be interesting to look at some of the Cards from previous years. This was a very early (still in Blackheath) one...

We have been to the Private View, at the Mount Street Gallery in Brecon, of an exhibition of the prints of Robert Macdonald, for many years an important figure in the artistic life in this part of the world . . . although he was originally from New Zealand. He came to...

Unfortunately, just at the time when it is first possible to flit between this Journal and the OSP website (Oh Joy! Oh Rapture!, I hear you cry . . . !) and at a time when we have just send out two leaflets for our new books, the site happens to be in the process of...

Today we are happily able to celebrate the fact that the Wizard of our Website has redesigned the 'front door' of the site to enable visitors to visit here as well as decide to wander round the more permanent bibliographical vastnesses of the site. You could have a...

A little bit more about this lovely book, from the point of view of the participants. We have just sent out our prospectus so the book’s success (or viability!) is now in the hands of our loyal friends. An exciting moment but also one tinged with ‘last night blues’....

Wood brings pages to life Books become a work of art at Old Stile Press, where wood engravings, woodcuts, linocuts and other relief blocks are expertly handled by Nicolas McDowall. John Hudson finds out more. SOME of Britain's most beautiful books are being produced...

One of the star attractions on our stand at the LAB Fair, as we had fully expected, was Leading the Cranes Home, the collection of ancient Chinese poems (in timeless translations by Arthur Waley) with colour woodcut prints in the Japanese style by Ralph Kiggell . . ....

This conversation sowed the seeds of this collaboration which has, otherwise, largely been conducted by email - between Wales and Bangkok where Ralph lives and works. Normally the artist prints his own work on Japanese paper, with water-based inks and prints by hand...

One of the elements that made for the success of the project was the sensitive help given to us by our friendly inkmaker (just round the corner as it happens but probably the best in the business) Cranfield Colours Ltd in Cwmbran. We gave them small swatches of...

At the start of my part of the job I did, rashly, work out the total number of printings that I had to do in order to complete the 150 copies in this edition. It was such a daunting number that I tried to chase it from my mind! The book was, however, tremendously...

We have just returned from a weekend in London, where we lived so happily for many decades but which now seems such a distant place and which needs such a real struggle to leave our safe and fulfilling valley in Wales. This Fair has been going for thirteen years, in a...

Behold the principals and total workforce of The Old Stile Press! Photograph by Bernard Mitchell. As we have just learned how to do it, this is a good point to give a link to our website. Work is going on at this very moment to bring it up to date but our earlier...

It has taken me hours (if not days!) to find my way around this site so as to fill in all the boxes with information and learn how to play with text and photographs. At last, though, I think I am sufficiently up to speed to start off . . . on the first day of a brand...