Part of my father’s wartime diary, and a drawing of my father in Oflag 79 by a fellow POW (unknown).
Work and life and summer have crept in like weeds in a garden over the last couple of months. But on the Brunswick Map Printers front, small packages continue to be packed and sent off to various corners of the globe. Quite a number to the USA, a few to the continent and most to the UK. About half the numbered letter press limited edition of 150 have now gone, printed on the machine that appears in this slide show. The digital facsimile edition of an initial run of 300 are going out more slowly, but in a red cover with the same format and the same care taken over appearance and presentation they are lovely items to have and to hold; and to read.
Currently there is an 1800 word article on the Brunswick Printers in Forum, the twice yearly journal devoted to lettering, font and typography and the voice of http://www.letterexchange.org. As a result of this I’ve been asked to write a similar piece for The Quarterly, the journal of the British Association of Paper Historians with more emphasis on, and illustrations of, the paper used, not only for the maps, but also for the letters, documents and other archive material relating to the Brunswick Printers.
I have also been contacted by Kirsty Smith, who is the daughter of Wallis Heath who was one of the fellow POWs who was involved with the Brunswick Printers and who was one of the team involved in producing the maps once the processes had been established. I have access to, and her permission to use, a carbon copy of his wartime diary which is probably the only other account of the Brunswick Printers in existence. Where my father has written most about the development and construction of the press itself, the lithographic process and the drawing of the maps, Wallis Heath has written in much more detail about how the inks and colours were made. I plan to transcribe the relevant sections of his diary this Autumn and see if I can construct a documentary narrative using both sources.
If there is anyone with contacts with journals, radio and media outlets etc which might be interested in the Brunswick Printers, contact me, Mark Evans, at https://thebrunswickprinters.com contact page. Many thanks.
THE BRUNSWICK PRISON CAMP MAP PRINTERS 