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Gray Campbell: A Publisher Remembers
While attending the inauguration of the Gray Campbell Distinguished Service Award, Gray Campbell shared some of his memories with 100 West Coast writers and publishing personnel who are following his footsteps up the ladder.
"It had started innocently. We encouraged a blind war veteran named John Windsor to write about his struggle to recover from a tragic tank battle in Italy. When two eastern publishers turned it down, John hit rock bottom and we had to do something. Eleanor and I discussed the possibility of publishing it ourselves. When we went looking for advice and help, the reaction was negative. Bill Duthie offered to send the manuscript to his old friend at Macmillan but when I told him we were already setting type in Sidney, Bill said he would do all he could to help, as did Jim Douglas. We found that Sainty Rivers, the publisher of the weekly Review in Sidney, had an unused flat-bed press that printed four-up, and a spare typesetting machine. But first we analysed the manuscript and asked why it had failed. We moved chapters around, using flashbacks, and the story came alive.
"The first three books were printed on that old press. They did so well, Charlie Morriss and Colonist Printers in Victoria, and Glen Hyatt at Evergreen Press in Vancouver, all wanted to do a book with us. We started scrambling to keep them happy. Everyone in the media went out of their way to help. Peter Murray at the Times, John Shaw at the Colonist, Ida Clarkson at Chek-TV, Jack Webster on radio. They all pitched in. Two of our sons hit the road by Greyhound bus and our van to get the books into the stores. I hustled around Victoria and kept running into Margaret Reynolds who now runs the BC Publishers Association. My problem was to sell enough books to pay the printers, then the authors, and finally ourselves. My friend and neighbour R.M. Patterson, who had been published in London and New York, brought us a manuscript in 1963. That's when we had to produce our first contract.
"Looking back, it was my partner of nearly 59 years, Eleanor, who urged me to get into all this. She also created some of our best titles, suggested illustrations and designed covers. When Capi Blanchet brought us the manuscript of The Curve of Time, it was Eleanor's determination that saved it. I also give credit to Eleanor for pushing me into the biggest risk of our lives, Lew Clark's Wildflowers of British Columbia, in 1973. It turned out to be a spectacular success and at the time I couldn't distinguish a daisy from a dandelion."; -- Gray Campbell, March 30, 2000
[BCBW SUMMER 2000]
"It had started innocently. We encouraged a blind war veteran named John Windsor to write about his struggle to recover from a tragic tank battle in Italy. When two eastern publishers turned it down, John hit rock bottom and we had to do something. Eleanor and I discussed the possibility of publishing it ourselves. When we went looking for advice and help, the reaction was negative. Bill Duthie offered to send the manuscript to his old friend at Macmillan but when I told him we were already setting type in Sidney, Bill said he would do all he could to help, as did Jim Douglas. We found that Sainty Rivers, the publisher of the weekly Review in Sidney, had an unused flat-bed press that printed four-up, and a spare typesetting machine. But first we analysed the manuscript and asked why it had failed. We moved chapters around, using flashbacks, and the story came alive.
"The first three books were printed on that old press. They did so well, Charlie Morriss and Colonist Printers in Victoria, and Glen Hyatt at Evergreen Press in Vancouver, all wanted to do a book with us. We started scrambling to keep them happy. Everyone in the media went out of their way to help. Peter Murray at the Times, John Shaw at the Colonist, Ida Clarkson at Chek-TV, Jack Webster on radio. They all pitched in. Two of our sons hit the road by Greyhound bus and our van to get the books into the stores. I hustled around Victoria and kept running into Margaret Reynolds who now runs the BC Publishers Association. My problem was to sell enough books to pay the printers, then the authors, and finally ourselves. My friend and neighbour R.M. Patterson, who had been published in London and New York, brought us a manuscript in 1963. That's when we had to produce our first contract.
"Looking back, it was my partner of nearly 59 years, Eleanor, who urged me to get into all this. She also created some of our best titles, suggested illustrations and designed covers. When Capi Blanchet brought us the manuscript of The Curve of Time, it was Eleanor's determination that saved it. I also give credit to Eleanor for pushing me into the biggest risk of our lives, Lew Clark's Wildflowers of British Columbia, in 1973. It turned out to be a spectacular success and at the time I couldn't distinguish a daisy from a dandelion."; -- Gray Campbell, March 30, 2000
[BCBW SUMMER 2000]
Submitted on July 11, 2003 in By David.
