Gwasg Gregynog

Has anyone bought anything from them? The process seems to be to send them an email, but after a few days no one is replying. Am I doing something wrong? Is there a secret password I need to know before they will be willing to sell me books?

>1 filox: The press is no longer active. As I mentioned in a previous post, over a year ago, I visited the large country house in Wales, where they were based, to find a locked door with their name on it. I spoke to some people nearby who said nobody appeared to be working there any longer.
I had also emailed them and offered to meet any staff members elsewhere with a view to purchasing some books or even to help out if I could...but no reply.
It's such a shame.

>1 filox:

Sadly, Gwasg Gregynog (GG) has not published a book in nearly a decade. Fortunately, many of their titles appear on the secondary market, usually from fine & rare booksellers rather than at auction. If you use the Abebooks.com search engine hundreds of titles will pop up. Madoc Books in Llandudno, North Wales and Sophie Schneideman, London, are two booksellers that regularly have GG books in their inventory. Links below.

Madoc Books: https://www.madocbooks.com/?utm_source=vialibri&utm_medium=search&utm_ca...

Sophie Schneideman: https://www.ssrbooks.com

Such a shame they closed down.

>3 dlphcoracl: Thanks for Madoc, didn't know about them. Sophie I knew about, it's how I first learned of Gregynog. I did find my book on Abe, but it seems that it has a bookplate glued to one of the pages. Now I have to think about this. I really hate people who do this.

>4 filox: For what it's worth, I noticed Kelmscott Bookshop has a couple of their titles when I browsed their private press titles. AND I believe they are having a 30% off sale. At least that's what I saw in an email from them today...

> 5 It looks like their sale is very limited.

February SALE! All books $100 and under are 30% off for the month of February in nearly EVERY subject!!!

This sale excludes artists' books, private press, and items sold on consignment.

Ah, I should have done a search here first. Four years later I've sent an email off to Gwasg Gregynog, I don't expect I'll hear anything back now either.

>7 Shadekeep: I read somewhere that they were back in some form for the centenary last year. I'd be interested to know if they respond.

>8 TristanJohn: I'll let you know if I do hear back, would be nice if the titles are still at hand.

>9 Shadekeep: The possibility of the re-revival of the Press (Gwasg Gwasg Gregynog perhaps?) after its 2015 hiatus has been in the air for a couple of years now. It's a tantalising prospect. What has been achieved so far that is in the public domain is as follows:

(i) A new edition of a portfolio of ephemera, titled Miscellanea III, in both ordinary and special editions. This continues the tradition of Miscellanea (2005) and Miscellanea 2 (2010). These are priced at £180 (yellow card) and £1000 (1/4 leather box by Stuart Brockman, plus extra signed prints) respectively - full details are on the website.

(ii) A new printed catalogue dated Spring 2024, with (at last) a definitive list of books and other items that remain in stock. Although of course the numbers of copies are very small in some cases, so this may quickly become out-of-date.

(iii) Some partial updating of the long-moribund website, although unfortunately much of it is still fossilised including the Catalogue and shop pages.

The only public contact point is the email address enquiries@gwasg-gregynog.co.uk, which I would hope and presume should now be responsive given the very recent issue of the new catalogue.

I hope this helps!

>10 BillWoodbridge: Thank you for the information, quite useful! That is indeed the email address I wrote to a few days ago. Do you know of anywhere to see a PDF or similar of their recent catalogue? There are three titles I wrote to them about and would be interested to see if any still remained at the time of the catalogue's publication. Otherwise I can cease my anticipation.

>11 Shadekeep: I can’t do better than reproduce the relevant page from the Catalogue (p11) which is obviously copyright Gwasg Gregynog, but I don’t see why it can’t be shared here.

Or rather that’s what I would do if I knew how to paste a photo! So here’s my own transcription of it:

Price List

Books

Gwendolin 75 years on (Quarter Cloth) £90
Llys Glyndwr (Paper Binding) £120
Princes and Castles (Quarter Leather) £350
The Romantics in Wales (Quarter Leather) £795
The Romantics in Wales (Special Binding) £3000
The Book of Ruth (Quarter cloth with paper covered boards) £135
Llyfr Ruth (Quarter cloth with paper covered boards) £135
The Special Bindings of Gwasg Gregynog (Quarter Leather) £175
The Texture of the Universe (Quarter Leather) £450
Welsh Time (Quarter Leather) £320
Welsh Time (Quarter Cloth) £195

Prints

Signed, editioned prints by Hilary Paynter from The Texture of the Universe, The Romantics in Wales and Princes and Castles (unmounted) £65 small, £130 large.

Signed, editioned prints by Rigby Grahgam from Pennant and his Welsh Landscapes (unmounted) £140

Ephemera

Miscellanea III (portfolio) £180
Miscellanea III (special) £1000
“Charles Dickens on Books” £5
“Twenty-Six Soldiers” £5

Prices include UK postage. For further details of Gwasg Gregynog publications, and the latest news, please visit our web site gwasg-gregynog.co.uk. Since these items are limited edition, please contact us before sending any payment to confirm availability. Some books are also available in sheets for binding by members of the Society of Bookbinders or the Designer Bookbinders. Please email enquiries@gwasg-gregynog.co.uk to order, or for any queries. E&OE.

>13 BillWoodbridge: Thanks kindly, much appreciated. Here was my original request to them, glad to see the primary title is still listed in the catalogue.

· Princes and Castles - £350 (Quarter Leather)
· Byron Rogers: The Lost Children - £120 (Bound)
· W.H.Davies: The Lovers' Song-book - £30 (Bound)

Both of the secondary titles are listed on the site in unbound form as well, so possibly they remain among their unbound sheets mentioned. Hopefully I'll get a reply at some point from them as to the actual inventory. Cheers!

Oh, if they do reply and still have Gwendolin on hand as well, probably will go for that too. Honestly I may go a bit hog-wild if they reply and try to snap up what I can.

>14 Shadekeep: Honestly I may go a bit hog-wild if they reply and try to snap up what I can.

Me, too. If I can get a copy of Llyfr Ruth, I might resume my Welsh language study!

>14 Shadekeep: No problem, glad to help. Princes and Castles is a great book, and scarce on the secondary market in my experience. Good luck!

Approximately 18 lots from this press are up for auction in a couple of days. Just scroll down the linked page.
It’s an auction house in Wales, UK.

https://auctions.rogersjones.co.uk/auctions/7713/rogers10521?page=1&pageSize...

>17 paulm16: Some great items there. Also in individual auctions, including Of A Feather and Parzival. Though seeing these collection lots always gives me a twinge of memento mori.

>17 paulm16: I suppose shipping a tall quarto-sized book abroad would cost at least 200 GBP. Decisions, decisions...

>19 Lukas1990: I don’t know likely shipping costs but the positive slant is that it should cost the same for shipping as if you were purchasing direct from the press. After all, it’s coming from the same place.

>20 paulm16: The difference is that Rogers Jones, like many auction houses, don't offer an in-house shipping service. So you either need to collect in person, or arrange and authorise a third-party courier to collect, pack and ship on to you. Sometimes these third parties offer a choice of carrier for the shipping, sometimes not.

Some third party couriers can be very good in terms of responsiveness and reasonable charges, but some are bad on both counts. But either way there is extra to pay for their collection and packing services over and above the actual shipping - and no guarantee that they might not be tempted to then mark up the shipping cost itself. (Plus, occasionally, they will insist on compulsory insurance at additional cost).

If you can't collect in person, for better or worse you're essentially at their mercy once you've won a lot.

>21 BillWoodbridge: Shipping, like most things is a competitive businesses and prices are generally controlled by that competition. If you find the concept worrisome you could purchase through “Saleroom”. This will add 5% to the costs but clearly shows shipping costs. Here is one of the lots as an example.

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/rogersjones/catalogue-id-r...

Click on shipping it will show UK costs with discounts for multiple buys.

Click on international shipping for an instant quote and you will see, for instance, USA £77 Sterling with said discounts available.

You could of course buy direct through the auction house and then contact displayed shippers to do the rest saving that 5%.

I don’t feel I am at anyone’s mercy when buying at auction, apart from my own!

I wouldn't argue with anything you say! Personally I prefer your second option - to bid direct with auction houses where I can (and where they don't apply an additional online charge themselves of course), even at the risk of more uncertainty over shipping costs, rather than use the big platforms such as The Saleroom. That extra 5% on hammer can become a bit of a drag!

And certainly in the past I've received post-auction Saleroom-generated shipping quotes significantly in excess of what I could get by going direct. But they might well have cleaned up their act since those days - the power of competition, as you say.

Finally, and apologies if this is common knowledge but it's caught me out a couple of times in the past with other auction houses, Rogers Jones' payment conditions are immediate payment by bank transfer only regardless of the value of the invoice - no cards.

>14 Shadekeep: did you ever hear back? I sent an email and have received no reply.

>24 SDB2012: Unfortunately not yet. I send a follow-up recently telling them that I would also be interested in hearing the complete list of items in stock, and would be happy to share that info with the folks here. I'm holding out hope that they do still check the email but just infrequently. We'll see!

>25 Shadekeep: I did the same with my inquiry. I'll let you know if I hear back.

Take my money. PLEASE!

>26 SDB2012: I alerted my contact at the Press to the lack of responses to emails. They're looking into it and hopefully it will be resolved soon - it's certainly not intentional! It may be a technical issue.

I'm also told that the website's catalogue page IS now up-to-date, and lists rather more than the list I transcribed, above. So apologies for my previous comment suggesting it wasn't. Finally, not everything available is fully catalogued so enquiries about items that aren't listed on the website are also welcome.

>27 BillWoodbridge: Thanks! I received an email this morning!

>27 BillWoodbridge: Thanks, I'll check it out!

>28 SDB2012: No reply here yet for me, hopefully they'll respond to a fresh order enquiry.

>27 BillWoodbridge: I sent an email on Saturday, hopefully they get it fixed soon!

Hi all,

Thanks so much for your collective interest in Gwasg Gregynog and its future.

We are currently undertaking a feasibility study to help us understand the future direction of the Press. Funding for the study has also enabled us to provide some capacity to manage the sales of existing Gwasg Gregynog publications. However, this capacity is very limited. Therefore we are not able to respond as quickly as we, and I'm sure you, would like.

Please bear with us as we seek to respond as quickly as possible.

Thanks again for your continued interest in Gwasg Gregynog

Diolch

Gwasg Gregynog

>31 GG_Books: Hello, and thank you for this update! I'm glad to hear that further investigations are underway regarding the press. Please keep us apprised of your progress when the time warrants, many of us are interested in the press as you can see. Best of luck!

>32 Shadekeep: Diolch means thank you

>33 SDB2012: Ah, grazie, I didn't realise. Amended my reply.

Hurrah, I've heard back from Gwasg Gregynog, and they've confirmed three of my requests and put them on hold for me (Princes and Castles, The Lovers' Song-book, and Gwendolin 75 Years on). They are checking if the fourth (The Lost Children) is at hand, but I told them I'd be glad to take unbound pages if not, as I've long wanted to experience getting a custom bound book made.

As I had suspected, my emails went into their spam bucket (my hosting provider seems to get flagged a lot, since my bespoke domain doesn't match the mail originator). Glad they were able to retrieve the messages finally.

Oh, and I learned another bit of Welsh in the process - Cofion Gorau.

This might be of interest:

https://thebibliofile.ca/david-esslemont-on-the-history-of-the-gregynog-and-solm...

Further update from Gwasg Gregynog, they are getting close to being able to process orders again. Also, they have devised a plan to deal with remaining stock that is unnumbered. In order to number the works but not conflict with existing numbered volumes, they are creating a new limitation range pegged to their centenary (2023). Thus the remaining unnumbered books will be numbered in a new sequence marked as distinct by the year. For example, the first newly numbered book out of, say, 30, will be numbered 1 of 30 (2023). I think this is a fine solution, and for me the main thing remains getting my hands on GG's work.

I had the same information as >37 Shadekeep: through a charming correspondence with the renascent press, and have now benefited from a duly processed order, having received a copy of Sundrie Pieces by George Herbert. The book was made in 2003, but arrived in pristine condition, a tribute to how well the stock has been kept through the dormant period. And as described in >37 Shadekeep:, my copy has been numbered 01/02 (2023), there having been just two copies left. It's a lovely book: beautifully printed and bound in quarter leather and marbled paper, with a little witty typographic showing off. I do hope the press is able to generate some decent sales volume from its current stock, and be encouraged towards a new era of book-making.

>38 affle: Very glad to hear about the quality of the book and the order. They are packing mine as well, looking forward to it. Like you, I do hope this revitalises the press in one fashion or another.

>39 Shadekeep: >38 affle: I've had some correspondence but have not received an invoice. Looking forward to the books!

>40 SDB2012: They've had to a lot of organising and arranging on their side with very few hands, and it's taken them additional time to line up overseas sales (which impacts me, perhaps not you). But it seems to be coming together at last, so hopefully you'll hear something soon. I've not been invoiced either, but my contact tells me packing is in progress.

>41 Shadekeep: Awesome. The last message I got was the one about numbering a couple of weeks ago.

I'm in the states so hopefully see some action soon +)

>42 SDB2012: Got my invoice on Friday but couldn't complete payment until today, as I need more bank info to set up the transfer. But all is done now on my end and the waiting commences for my five books.

>43 Shadekeep: I must be a step behind you. Which books did you order? I selected-

Llys Glyndwr (Paper Binding)
Princes and Castles (Quarter Leather)
The Romantics in Wales (Quarter Leather)
Llyfr Ruth (Quarter cloth with paper-covered boards)
The Texture of the Universe (Quarter Leather)
Welsh Time (Quarter Leather)

>44 SDB2012: I ordered the following:

Princes and Castles (Quarter Leather)
Byron Rogers: The Lost Children (Cloth)
W.H.Davies: The Lovers' Song-book (Paper)
Gwendolin 75 Years on (Quarter Red Cloth)
Llys Glyndŵr (Paper)

Llys Glyndŵr was a late edition while my order was being processed. I decided, heck, I'm paying the shipping and who knows how long this stuff will be available, so get everything you might want now. Though I'll probably still kick myself down the line for not getting The Romantics in Wales once it's gone.

The books arrived already! About 4 days from Wales to Virginia, very impressed. They kindly threw in a bonus Paynter print, too. Here's the haul:



Top row: Paynter print, Princes and Castles, Byron Rogers: The Lost Children
Bottom row: W.H.Davies: The Lovers' Song-book, Gwendolin 75 Years on, 2024 catalogue, Llys Glyndŵr

The photo is at an angle, so Princes and Castles doesn't look as large here as it is in person. Exceedingly handsome volume.

Someone just got a good deal on the Gregynog Life of Saint David today via auction. I think it went for £1600. I was tempted but it was too rich for my blood despite being a great price for the book.

>48 Nightcrawl: That's my Holy Grail. Still a bit too expensive for me at the moment.

>48 Nightcrawl: it sold for a similar amount 3 months ago so that seems to be fair value for it at auction:
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/29869/lot/93/gregynog-press-the-life-of-saint-da...

>48 Nightcrawl: didn't it go for over 2,000 with buyer's premium?

>51 filox: Yes, still a relatively great price in the original slipcase when you compare to current sale listing.

My second order (first at >38 affle:) has arrived. Two beautiful books: The texture of the universe and The romantics in Wales. The first is a good partner for the George Herbert volume in content; physically, it also has a secondary printing colour, but narrower format, and buckram rather than marbled paper on the boards. I'm a sucker for the wood engraving of Hilary Paynter, and she has made quite profuse illustrations for this, printed from the original blocks.

The Romantics book is a much bigger beast, small folio, heavy, good quality quarter leather binding, pictorial cloth boards, thickish paper (Zerkall 145 gsm) untrimmed except for the top edge. An unmistakably solid feel to it. The expansive format means that there are some quite lovely large-scale Paynter illustrations, printed directly from the original blocks. It's an anthology, so only a first impression of the content so far: there's a strong section on Valleys and Ruins, including Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey, and on River and Cataracts (what else - it's about Wales) featuring George Borrow; the section on the Welsh has some notable abuse by Shelley and Thomas Love Peacock. It looks as if it will be quite fun dipping into this, section by section, thirteen all told.

The Press has been delightful to deal with, and like >46 Shadekeep: I was very pleased to get a bonus print with each order. I wish the Press very well.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/326439982649

Gorgeous. Out of my budget range, but window shopping is also nice.

>54 GusLogan: Somebody snatched it up. Doubtful a copy in such great condition will come up for sale again anytime soon. Great get for whoever the lucky buyer was…