Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Ancora, cricket and New Zealand

Wednesday night again: printing night. The 5.07 to Richmond; the next available train to Caulfield; the walk to the Fine Arts building which houses the Ancora Press and the artists books studio; and once again I am amidst the dedicated journeymen and master of the Ancora Press.

Wade of Halifax
The Jack Lindsay poem about D.H. Lawrence is not yet published, as we are experiencing hardware issues (the Arab platen press needs maintenance, and the students need to use the Albion). Meanwhile we are setting selected extracts of an account of a world cricket tour. As I have only seen disjointed extracts of this work I have no idea of its authorship or period. The latest extract tells the sorry tale of the team's arrival by ship in Auckland, only to discover it is Sunday and the welcoming toast is made with empty glasses, on account of the liquor licensing laws in force in New Zealand at that time. But it could have been worse - some provinces enjoyed total prohibition.

The end of our shift is traditionally concluded with a cup of tea and a biscuit. Then it is home time. The vagaries of Melbourne's evening public transport schedules dictate a radically different solution for the return journey: the 8.00 624 Kew bus followed by a Riversdale Road tram. Sometimes they even connect ...

 

1 comment:

  1. If some of my forebears had their way all provinces would still be (not) enjoying prohibition.

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