Fleece Press

Dates:

Active 1980

Active 2006

Biographical notes:

The Fleece Press is a private printing press and publisher, owned and run by Simon Lawrence. The press publishes books in limited editions that have usually included illustrations printed from wood-engravings.

Simon Lawrence produced his first book ( S. T. E. Lawrence: Boxwood Blockmaker. Wood-engravings collected in honour of his eightieth birthday, Wakefield: Simon Lawrence, printed by the Whittington Press, 1980) in 1980 as an eightieth birthday gift for his grandfather, Stanley T. E. Lawrence. Stanley Lawrence then ran the family firm of T.N. Lawrence and Son, which supplied equipment, including woodblocks, for printers and engravers.

A number of the early books published by Simon Lawrence were printed at the Whittington Press, but he also began to hand print pamphlets and books at his parents' home in Wakefield, Yorkshire. The first of these to be published was The Death of Charles Stothard . An eyewitness account, with an introduction by Richard Knowles, published under the Box Tree Press imprint in 1981. In 1984 Simon Lawrence acquired workshop premises in Wakefield and the first book under the Fleece Press imprint was published ( The Press, That Villainous Engine by Andrew Marvell. Wood engravings by Peter Forster, Wakefield: Fleece Press, 1984). The Fleece Press moved to new premises at Cawthorne, Barnsley, in 1997.

Whilst still hand printing books by letterpress methods at his own premises, Simon Lawrence also began to design and publish books printed on a four-colour press by other printers. This has allowed him to develop the form and the content of Fleece Press books to include colour illustration and photography. However, he remains committed to continuing to print books featuring prints for wood engraving that are printed by the letterpress method.

From the guide to the Fleece Press Archive, 1968-2002, (Manchester Metropolitan University, Sir Kenneth Green Library)