Holloway Press type. MSS & Archives 2014/15, 8/1. Special Collections, University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services.
The Holloway Press was established in 1994 under the Department of English by poet and printer Alan Loney with Associate Professor Peter Simpson (English) as co-Director. It was set up in the library at the University of Auckland’s Tāmaki Campus using equipment and materials generously donated by its namesake, Ronald Holloway, printer and publisher of The Griffin Press.1
Alan Loney left The Holloway Press in 1998 and it remained inactive until it was revived in 2001 by Peter Simpson in the role of publisher and renowned graphic designer and printer Tara McLeod as designer and printer.2
In 2014, after 20 years, the Press closed having produced 40 publications involving an impressive number of New Zealand artists, poets, writers, printers and designers.3
Archives relating to these printing projects were donated in batches to Special Collections and now form The Holloway Press records collection.4 After substantial processing, researchers can now use the online finding aid for the collection and access the records in the Special Collections reading room. The material includes original manuscripts, cover designs, printer’s proofs, photographs, correspondence, paper samples, launch invitations, and more.
As Francis McWhannell noted in 2014, ‘the Press has not only participated in the tradition of fine press printing in this country, it has furthered it considerably’.5
The Holloway Press archives and its published works, held by Special Collections in the New Zealand Glass Case, make up a rich and comprehensive resource reflecting this important publishing legacy.
Leah Johnston, Special Collections
References
1 University of Auckland. (1994). Press keeps alive traditional printing techniques. University News, 24 (10), p.27.
2 Ibid.
3 Dart, W. (Summer 2007-08). Building on a tradition, Auckland’s Holloway Press. Art New Zealand, 125, p.56.
4 The Holloway Press records. MSS & Archives 2014/15. Special Collections, University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services.
5 McWhannell, F. (2014). The Holloway Press, 1994-2013 : a checklist of publications. Auckland : Holloway Press.
Note:This is an edited version of a post of 24 February 2016 from the now-retired Special Collections blog