Keepsake Press

The Keepsake Press was a private press founded by English writer Roy Lewis. The press published more than 100 books and chapbooks using letterpress techniques. It ceased to operate in 1996 when Lewis died. Its archive is now housed at Reading University.

A series of 39 poetry chapbooks, The Keepsake Poems, was published between 1972 and 1979 by the press. All have a standard format of crown quarto wrapper enclosing a trimmed folded sheet. A poem and illustration were printed on the centre pages and the print run was generally of 180 copies. Contributors are listed as:

At school in Birmingham in 1928, Roy Lewis was introduced to the possibilities of letterpress magazine publishing and bought his first printing press shortly after. On this press he produced amateur magazines, The Lilliputian and The Meanderer. His father was keen to support his hobby and supplied him with a large quantity of type. During the Great Depression he sold his press, later recalling, "I cut printing out of my heart... and decided to grow up completely."

It was not until the late 1950s that Lewis began printing again, when he decided to demonstrate the craft to daughters Elizabeth and Miranda, using material produced by them. The Keepsake Press was founded in the garden shed soon after, with the intention of publishing both established and un-established writers and artists. Its commercial policy was equally reach-me-down, the sales 'office' being "confined to some ring binders and a pile of filing boxes". Since print-runs were limited, most impressions were sold out within 18 months or less.

The press' association with Edward Lowbury, whom Lewis had known at university, was particularly close. Lowbury's Metamorphoses (1958) was the first non-family production from the press, followed by eight more by him of which the last, First Light, was printed in 1990, two years after the press had officially ceased business. The following is a check list of these:

Lewis learned as he went along and was constantly experimenting. The production of Metamorphoses helped him master a large Columbian press that printed four pages at a time. In 1976 he went to night school in order to learn and so was able to produce the ambitious large work represented by Poetry and Paradox. Previously his largest book had been the 24-page anthology Moments of Truth containing short poems by 19 high-profile poets of the day: George Barker, Martin Bell, John Betjeman, Edwin Brock, Robert Conquest, Gavin Ewart, Roy Fuller, Thom Gunn, Bernard Gutteridge, Francis Hope, Ted Hughes, Edward Lowbury, Kathleen Nott, Peter Porter, Peter Redgrove, James Reeves, Peter Russell, David Wevill and Hugo Williams. Published in 1965, twelve copies were given each poet and the remaining 100 were offered for sale.

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