At the turn of the 19th century, in support of the first animal welfare campaigners, cats told their own stories through a series of best-selling children’s books. They moused in high places but pay was often poor, as revealed by Florence Nightingale in her memo complaining of the meagre rations for cats in the War Office. Many cats worked at home in London - where rats were a scourge – and enjoyed the luxury of a daily fast food service: a slice of horse flesh on a skewer delivered through the letterbox by the Cats-meat man. On the steam railway network, cats had power: the safety of the travelling public was largely dependent on the hunting skills of the signal box ratters.
Crowds flocked to the first cat show held at the Crystal Palace in 1871, when aristocrats and royalty obsessed over their competitive hobby of breeding longhairs.
Published:
April 2019
Paperback:
166 pages
Size:
250 x 250 mm
Price:
£18.50
ISBN:
9-781912-419579
Paperback edition (UK only)
£18.50 (+ £2.50 postage)
Number of copies:
Also available from Amazon
Hardback edition (UK only)
£27.50 (+ £2.50 postage)
Number of copies:
A spoilt Persian puss scratched the hand of the Prince of Wales and even more spoilt ladies chased the terrified exhibition organizer round the hall for something he had forgotten to do. The National Cat Club was founded along with the first stud book as a guide for ‘points of excellence.’
Technical advances in colour printing raised the profile of cats; their image was everywhere, on greetings cards, valentines, picture post-cards, sheet music and advertisements that sold every kind of product imaginable.
Poor Puss is the story of cats as they bravely clawed their way up the social ladder - out of persecution and superstition - to gain their rightful place as cherished family pets today. With impressive research, over three hundred archival pictures and entertaining anecdotal detail, meaty as a plump mouse.
You may never view your cat in the same way again!
Reviews...
Jilly Cooper Marvellous historical background and all the glorious illustrations
Dear Marilyn, A million congratulations on your wonderful book Poor Puss. A Social History of English Cats, the marvellous historical background and all the glorious illustrations make it the perfect present for any cat lover. Truly well done, Love, Jilly Cooper.
London Metropolitan Archives 'impressive in every way'
Entanglement Paul Knight
My first passion as a teenager was photographing the parks of central London at dusk when most people had left for the day.
I then discovered the Lake District through a friend and together we toured the Lakes with our 5x4 and medium format cameras; this quickly became the course I would follow.
After living in Windermere over a period of two years I found my new direction in the Ancient sites of this country, and Egypt as well as producing pictures for album and book covers.
However, when I was asked to submit some images to illustrate an album of Schumann’s Dichterliebe, I read the poems from Lyrisches Intermezzo and I realised that landscapes were not going to represent how I felt about the piece.
Published:
December 2020
Hardback:
110 pages
Size:
265 x 265 mm
Price:
£25.00
ISBN:
9-781913-425319
£25.00 (+ £3.50 postage)
Number of copies:
I decided to move away from landscape photography and instead create a collection that captured the essence of nature and the spirit of mystery. This requires control of every element within the image, creating new dynamics and relationships of the usually familiar.
This series of still life photographs use a technique known as Painting With Light.
It involves long camera exposures and a moving light source to create a soft painterly quality which is reminiscent of the paintings from the Dutch Golden Age of Art and can be seen in still life studies, landscapes and portraiture of that period.
Review
As someone who ordinarily, never purchases photography books, the cover image drew me in. It is a captivating collection of art work, be it in the form of photographs. It is hard to believe, such is the skill of the photographer, that these are in fact, photographs. It is a truly beautiful book. Noticing something new each time you visit it, it is a book you could come back to time and time again, and never tire of.
An ideal purchase for any keen photographer, or gift for any lover of art.
Three Seasons by Sam Branton
Three Seasons is a collection of drawings and paintings produced over the last five years based on the same underlying theme but divided into three distinct styles.
The underlying theme is a presentation of animals in unlikely settings or improbable pairings which results in a sometimes surreal and sometimes humerous impression on the viewer. Some of the images include references to animals in classical paintings but an essential feature of my work is to present animals in a playful rather than hostile setting.
The first season, Deluge, is a collection of tranquil monochrome drawings using red pencil. Most of these are drawn to a small scale and they are printed in the book at actual size. The drawings are set in neo-classical landscapes and they never quite tell the entire story, but should instead be considered as a frame or still image from a bigger story to be imagined or created by the viewer.
Published:
Jan 2021
Hardback:
140 pages
Size:
265 x 265 mm
Price:
£30.00
ISBN:
9-781913-425753
£30.00 (+ £3.50 postage)
Number of copies:
Season two, Holy Ground, is a collection of small oil paintings, building on the theme of animals in neo-classical landscapes and partial story telling but now introducing an extra element of mystery in some of the paintings by only showing a fragment of an entire painting. This was influenced by seeing remnants of images found in ancient remains in Greece and Italy which create a puzzle for historians to reimagine the complete original picture and the story being depicted.
Season three, Luciferase, builds on the Deluge theme, but now uses black pencil drawings to present the animals in a night-time setting using curious natural light sources to provide illumination. The monochrome images and lighting are sometimes used to create the illusion that the drawings represents a sculpture rather than living animals.
The endpapers in this book are taken from the triptych, Roses Within.
When you have produced the final draft of your book, it is always advisable to have the text read and checked by a professional editor or proof reader.
You may have friends that are willing and competent to do this and we can advise you on the type of editing that is required.
We can offer four levels of editing as well as proof-reading.
You choose which, if any, are appropriate in your case: 1. Edit of sample pages and short report (£30)
We will edit a few pages to highlight editorial issues so that you can look for similar problems throughout the book.
This will reduce the amount of further copy-editing required when the book is finished. 2. Broad structural editing and criticism (£5 per thousand words)
A structural review is particularly relevant for works of fiction.
The structural reviewer will address the following main areas and produce a short report for the author ” Read More 3. Copy editing (£10 per thousand words)
A copy-editor takes a close look at your text, line by line, with an eye to grammatical errors, repetition, inconsistency and lack of clarity. The copy editor will make changes to the text, with suggestions for rewriting, grammar, and punctuation. When you receive the edited version, you have the final choice about accepting of rejecting the individual changes. 4. Proof Reading (£8 per thousand words)
Proof reading is a line-by-line check that the book is ready for publication. Proof readers will make small corrections for punctuation, grammar and spelling but they will not make significant changes to the text.
A proof reader will identify any significant issues and add comments to the text so that you can make those corrections yourself. 5. Consistency Scan
If you decide your book doesn’t need a full proof reading, we offer an electronic scan to search for common errors and inconsistencies. This looks at issues such as inconsistent spelling and inconsistencies of hyphenation and capitalisation.
We can also identify inconsistencies in the spelling of proper names. 6. Cover text
The quality of the text on the cover is very important as it indicates the quality of the writing in the book.
The title, sub-title and back-cover blurb are all important elements and we can work with you to make sure that these are correct and effective.
Copy Edit
Copy-editors get the raw material into shape for publication i.e they edit the copy.
When they have finished, the designer can lay out or typeset the book and produce a proof.
It is quite normal for the author to make additional changes after a book has been copy-edited.
Working through the material, the copy-editor may identify errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, style and usage, but also very long sentences and overuse of italic, bold, capitals and exclamation marks.
They should correct or query doubtful facts, weak arguments, plot holes and gaps in numbering.
In fiction, they should also check that characters haven’t changed their name or hair colour, look for sudden changes from first to third person among other things.
The Copy-editor is not a proof reader and should not be expected to find all of the errors in the text particularly if the text is badly written to start with.
This is the job of the proof reader.
The final proof should be checked by a proof reader or an experienced reader friend before going to print.
It is almost inevitable (and acceptable) to miss a few errors which can be corrected in a later edition.
Proof Reading
Proof reading is a line-by-line check that the book is ready for publication.
Proof readers will make small corrections for punctuation, grammar and spelling but they will not make significant changes to the text.
A proof reader will identify any significant issues and add comments to the text so that you can make those corrections yourself.
If you have decided to complete this stage of the process yourself, we will send a detailed check-list to help you.
We ask you to try and ensure that the book is completely ready before we start the layout.
Once the layout has started, we expect that you might want to to make a small number of amendments but
if there are a significant number, we may need to charge for the extra time it takes to change the layout
so best to discuss this with us first.
Structural Review
In fiction, the main areas that a structural editor will address are:
Plot: Does the plot make sense? Is it believable? Is it satisfying or does it leave the reader frustrated? Themes: Are the themes effectively handled? Are there so many that the book lacks focus? Do they interfere with the plot or complement it?
Characterisation: Are your characters well developed and believable? Are they cast in a role that fits their personality? Do they sometimes behave out of character? Point of view/voice: Is the voice consistent or is it sometimes confused? Is the voice authentic? Are you using too many or too few POVs? Pace: Does the plot move forward at an appropriate pace? Should you cut that preface? Should the action happen sooner or should the tension build more slowly? Dialogue: Do your characters sound real when they speak? Is your dialogue cluttered with adverbs and beats? Do you use clunky dialogue to move the plot forward? Flow: Is the narrative interrupted by dead-ends and tangents? Is there so much back story that the main plot is dwarfed? Are there missing plot points that would give the narrative greater integrity?
In non-fiction, the principle is the same, but the specific issues are slightly different:
Thesis: Is your thesis relevant? Is it clearly defined or is it lost among marginal issues? Exposition: Are your arguments clear and cogent? Are they well researched and properly supported? Do they have a clear relationship with your thesis? Content: Are all the necessary topics sufficiently dealt with? Are the chapters weighted correctly? Is there superfluous content? Organisation: Is the information organised logically? Are tables and illustrations used appropriately? How many levels of subheads do you need and how should they be arranged? Tone: Is the tone appropriate for the audience? Do you need to eliminate jargon? Is the text accessible? Pace: Are there passages that are bogged down in detail? Do you spend too long on detail irrelevant to the main thesis? Are there areas that need further exposition lest they be skipped over?
Cover Text
The quality of the text on the cover is very important as it indicates the quality of the writing in the book.
The title, sub-title and back-cover blurb are all important elements and we work with you to make sure that these are as effective as possible.
Consistency check
If you decide your book doesn’t need a full proof reading, we can run an electronic scan to search for common errors and inconsistencies.
This looks at issues such as inconsistent spelling, hyphenation and capitalisation.
It also checks for consistent formatting of numbers and dates as well as undefined abbreviations.
Subsequent Script Edit
It is very normal and generally beneficial for the script-editing process to go through at least a couple of cycles
i.e. the rewritten draft to be worked through once again by an experienced script practitioner – though this would be entirely at the discretion and behest of the writer.
Full Script Edit
The script that you deliver to us will probably constitute what the industry would classify as the ‘Initial Rough Draft’, i.e. a full screenplay written without any other professional input or advice, and probably without a great deal of rewriting. We work through your draft, line by line, scene by scene, and come back to you with a comprehensive set of notes from which you can then work towards the official ‘1st Draft’. Some of our notes will be broad and general, dealing with such areas as the overall shape and structure, pacing, plot and character development; others will be far more specific, with corrections, clarifications and suggested cuts etc. It is of course entirely up to you whether or not to take these suggestions on board, and to what extent.
Ongoing Support
We aim to make your self-publishing venture an enjoyable and rewarding experience.
Publishing is a complex business and we treat every book as a separate project.
We explain all of the stages at the outset and we manage the project schedule for you. This will include all of the expert services you have requested for editorial, design, printing, distribution and collection of royalties, keeping in close contact with you throughout the process.
You will be allocated a project-sheet on the YouCaxton website so that you can monitor progress and ensure that all stages are properly completed.
If you would like to see an example of a Project-Sheet…
go to My project on the menu and enter…
Username: Sample
Password : welcome.
