2004-2005
Andrew Hirst (Sheffield) and Brian Lewis (Swindon) collaborate on The Frome Primer, a cycle of twenty-four poems by Hirst and twenty-four photographs by Lewis. A mutual interest in printmaking and design (and in developing new methods of publishing) leads to the founding of Longbarrow Press; they invite poets Matthew Clegg and Chris Jones to publish with them.
2006
27 April
Longbarrow Press makes its debut at The Red Deer, Sheffield. The launch is marked by the publication of two collaborative works in handmade, limited editions: The Frome Sampler by Andrew Hirst and Brian Lewis (four poems and four photographs in a hinged box), and Matthew Clegg’s Nobody Sonnets (eight poems by Clegg, four illustrations by Hirst, sleeved in a double wallet of tapestry cloth). Readings by Matthew Clegg, Andrew Hirst and Chris Jones (previewing his Miniatures sequence). Introduced by Brian Lewis. Click here to access the press release.
October
Sheffield literary magazine The Inky publishes an interview with Andrew Hirst and Brian Lewis in which the ethics and practices of the press are discussed. Co-founder Hirst steps down, leaving Lewis as sole editor / publisher. Book One of Hirst’s The Cinderella Suite is launched at The Red Deer, Sheffield, on 14 October (with Matthew Clegg’s broadside Two Nobody Sonnets). Readings by Clegg (Nobody Sonnets) and Hirst (The Cinderella Suite).
Longbarrow Press 