
A title from The Old School Press tokonoma Twenty haiku and tanka by James Kirkup with woodcuts by renowned woodcut artist Naoko Matsubara

About the book In print For something rather different, the Press collaborated with Canadian artist Naoko Matsubara in the making of an editioned piece that presents a collection of twenty haiku and tanka by James Kirkup, whose collection of poems Figures in a Setting we published in 1996. Each verse has been printed letterpress in large foundry Perpetua on a sheet of Japanese hand-made paper specially made by Masao Seki and accompanied by a striking woodcut by Naoko Matsubara. The images have been printed in one, two, or five colours by fine art printer Alan Flint in Canada under Matsubara's supervision. In issue 5 of Parenthesis, Reiko Yamanouchi wrote 'The result is brilliant and beautiful, deeply satisfying to the senses. Martyn Ould is to be congratulated for having published . . . such a sumptuous work, embodying the best of handwork and a perfect harmony of art and poetry, and also presenting a world in which European and Japanese cultures are subtly and happily merged.' One of Naoko Matsubara's images from the book *About the edition* The verses are complemented by a short essay on the writing of haiku and tanka by James Kirkup and on the concept of tokonoma itself. A tokonoma is an alcove in the home in which, for instance, a picture or scroll can be placed for meditation. To achieve the desired effect, the sheets are housed in a box constructed to allow one verse at a time to be displayed, much as one might display a photograph or favourite picture. The twenty-five sheets (each about 33cm by 26cm) are held in a tray covered in black cloth with a perspex lid. The back of the tray allows it to stand so that the top sheet is displayed. A slip case protects the whole. This hybrid of book and picture means that the poetry and pictures need never be fully hidden as they would be in the pages of a shelved book, but can be changed with time or whim. Every copy is signed by the four collaborators. There is an edition of 105 copies of which 85 are for sale. Price is £490. A four-page prospectus with colour reproductions of two of the sheets is available on request.
*Find out more about the book*	View a movie of the entire book:
	View the book as a display:

*What others have said about the book*	'The result is brilliant and beautiful, deeply satisfying to the senses.', 'wonderful', 'exquisite in conception, execution, printing, and boxing', 'superb'
*The story* I think I must have talked to David Burnett about haiku and tanka and he introduced me to James Kirkup who was then living in Andorra. Kirkup had collaborated with Canadian wood-cut artist Naoko Matsubara on Insect Summer (he had previously translated poems from the Japanese by her sister Hisako). I sent James’s set of poems to her asking if she would like to choose twenty to illustrate. We struck a deal by which she would provide the wood-cuts and purchase the paper, her studio printer Alan Flint would do the printing of them under her supervision (which suited me very well!), and I would provide the letterpress. She commissioned a special making of hanga paper by Masao Seki which was torn by hand by Alan. I had already conceived the idea of a picture-frame presentation, wanting a book that did not always hide its contents. So the woodcuts could be kept one to a sheet. I printed the title sheet, James’s introductory words, and the colophon on tosa gampi. All the text was hand-set in Perpetua from the Stephenson Blake foundry and printed on the C&P. Printing onto Naoko’s images was somewhat nerve-wracking as it would have been sacrilege to wreck a sheet. But all was well. However, having printed the title sheets I left them on our dining-room table so I could admire them as I came downstairs, only to notice that I had printed one of the Os upside-down in the book’s title. I had to order further tosa gampi, send it to Canada for Alan Flint to hand-tear for me, and have it sent back so I could have another shot. Once the colophon sheets were all done they went on a world tour, first to Andorra for James’s signature, then to Canada for Naoko’s and Alan’s, and finally back to Hinton Charterhouse for mine. The first few copies were bound by Owen Bradford but (fairly) he decided that the job was too much for him and I turned to The Fine Bindery in Wellingborough for the balance. This required a small corrigendum slip to be dropped into the case to correct the colophon. Subsequently Ludlow Bookbinders bound later batches and a further slip was dropped into the case with the update. Naoko felt that black was the wrong colour for the case – she felt it to be funereal, which surprised me as I had thought white was the colour of death for Japanese; however, at her wish I had her copies bound in grey instead. Throughout the whole project Naoko and I never actually met and only corresponded by email and post. However, in 2019 she had an exhibition of her work at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and Angela and I attended the opening evening, and finally Naoko and I met. *An introduction to Matsubara* You can find out a little about Naoko and her work through this excellent video: