DIFFICULT BOOK PRINTING

Evening Star, Issue 20193, 5 June 1929, Page 11

DIFFICULT BOOK PRINTING

On a lonely plmtatio i situated on the tropical islands of Fiji a. mother and her two daughters felt the call of the romantic South Seas insufficient to fill their mental needs, More or Jess isolated from the centres of culture and learning, they felt the urge to create something that would give wings to their lonely hours and at the same time contribute something to the world.

The result is a beautiful little volume entitled ‘ The Lone Sonnets of the Senora Carilla das Flores,’ selected ami edited by Richenda Parham, printed and bound by her daughters at Uuku Ruku Bay, "Fiji. In offering this dainty little collection of verse to the great public beyond the wave-caressed island cn which her plantation stands fhe editress expresses her hesitation, believing that the deep sentiment which breathes through the sonnets appeals “rather to lovers than to critics.” Maybe that will be so, as sho has worked in the belief that “translations should be made in the spirit rather than in the letter.”

Apart, however, from the literary merit of the production, the volume commends itself to all lovers of books for its unique qualities. It has not been printed in the ordinary acceptance of the term: it has been created and multiplied per medium of a duplicating device, and the blurred effect of the type caused by printing through a ribbon gives the little book a ery unusual appearance. In the absence of all the appliances which arc called on in the production of the modern hook this little labour of love goes to show the possibilities of amateur book production, a pursuit concerning which more will undoubtedly be heard in the near future.