Gaberbocchus Press – an editorial experiment. Brief history in fragments

Abstract

In 1948, in London the Themersons founded an independent publishing house Gaberbocchus Press and published books of unconventional contents with unconventional graphic design. They called them “best-lookers” in a humorous opposition to “best-sellers”. The content of the books and their graphic design were closely linked and conceived to complement each other. Gaberbocchus is a Latinised version of Jabberwock, a creature from Lewis Carroll’s book. Stefan was its literary director and Franciszka – its artistic director. Between 1948 and 1979, they published over 60 titles, including the first English translations of Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry, Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau, and Europe by Anatol Stern. Their list of titles included dadaist poems by Kurt Schwitters and Raoul Hausmann, The Good Citizen’s Alphabet by Bertrand Russell and two collections of Franciszka’s drawings, as well as various novels, essays, short stories and the score of Stefan’s opera.

Between 1957 and 1959 Gaberbocchus Press ran the Common Room – a meeting place for artists, intellectuals and scientists. The Common Room was a very novel and subversive concept in England in the ‘50s. It aimed at creating a living, social context for the publishing house. Meetings were held twice a week at which lectures were presented, poetry and plays were read, recitals, exhibitions, film screenings and discussions were held.

In 1979 Gaberbocchus Press was moved to Amsterdam. Since then, it has been run by Jaco Groot as Gaberbocchus/De Harmonie.