Trigram Press Archive
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Finding-Aid for the Trigram Press Archive [00115]Collection Description
Records, 1965-19751715 items
Access: Open
Trigram Press, Ltd. was founded in 1965 in London by Asa and Penelope (Pip) Benveniste and Paul Vaughan, using their own private printing presses. Its purpose, according to Asa Benveniste, was “to publish & print the most significant poetry/art being produced at this time, in a style which would clarify & illuminate the meaning of the text/image.” The publishers were dedicated to seeking out authors living and thinking on the edges of society, “hallucinated by a series of mental doorways.” Pip Benveniste, a British illustrator, contributed much of the artwork complementing the quality typography of the texts. The Benvenistes strove to achieve the highest quality printing available, and, according to Asa, they always fell short of their goal. One reason was that many of their publications were undertaken in conjunction with other presses, whose printing standards were not as high as those of the Benvenistes.
Washington University’s Trigram Press Papers cover the formative years of the press, from 1965 to 1969, and include correspondence and manuscripts from such authors as George Andrews, Lawrence Durrell, Jack Hirschman, Anselm Hollo, Christopher Logue, Edward Lucie-Smith, David Meltzer, Jeff Nuttall, Tom Raworth, Nathaniel Tarn, Jonathan Williams, and Louis Zukofsky. These papers are of interest because they show the early development of the press and document Asa Benveniste’s search for what he calls “the obscurist language possible” in literary works. The collection consists of the archive of Trigram Press Ltd., London, through 1969. Included are correspondence between various authors, primarily British and American, and Asa and Pip Benveniste, publishers of the Press, other correspondence concerning production matters, manuscripts, galleys, other proof material, illustrations, and production notes. Some of the projects were abandoned before publication and some were produced by Trigram for other publishers. The arrangement of the archive has been maintained as nearly as possible as the publisher left it with material relating to each book in a separate red folder boxed alphabetically under author. The authors included are Paul Ableman, George Andrews, Michael Armstrong, Gavin Bantock, George Barker, Asa Benveniste, Oswell Blakeston, Berjouhi Bowler, Brian Coffey, Kenneth Coutts-Smith, Keith Critchlow, Jim Dine, Lawrence Durrell, John Esam, Frank C. Fenton, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Kenneth Grant, Victor Hall, Piero Heliczer, Jack Hirschman, Anselm Hollo, Freddy Hurdis-Jones, John Latham, Christopher Logue, Edward Lucie-Smith, Hugo Manning, David Meltzer, Lorine Niedecker, Tom Raworth, Nathaniel Tarn, Léon Watkins, Jonathan Williams, and Louis Zukofsky. Files concerning Residue 2, including Mongol Revue [British literary magazine], Two Rivers, no. 1 [British literary magazine], and "Writers Reading" [brochure] are also included. A file of miscellaneous correspondence arranged alphabetically by writer concludes the archive and includes items from the following: Yoko Ono, Derek Sanford, Charles Verey, Clayton Eshleman, Robin Blaser, Harold Norse, George Dowden, Norman Rubington, David Marowitz, Lionel Kearns, Clive Matson, Mike Horowitz, and others.
Selected Names
Borges, Jorge Luis, 1899-1986. Argentine author.Clark, Tom, 1941-. American author.
Durrell, Lawrence, 1912-1990. British author.
Lucie-Smith, Edward, 1933-. British author.
Meltzer, David, 1937-. American author.
Ono, Yoko, 1933-. American author and artist.
Read, Herbert, 1893-1968. British author and critic.
Zukofsky, Louis, 1904-1978. American author.