Document Type
Catalog
Publication Date
Spring 2002
Abstract
This catalogue records the first major exhibition outside Scotland about one of the most influential of modem Scottish literary publishers, Akros Publications, and its founder, Duncan Glen. Professor Glen, a graphic designer as well as poet and publisher, issued his first hand printed publication just forty years ago. Since then he has published over 300 separate items by many of the best known Scottish writers, in a variety of strikingly-designed and colorful publication formats. Thomas Cooper Library has, as part of the Ross Roy Collection of Robert Burns & Scottish Poetry, the fullest Akros collection in the U.S. The current exhibition selects for display over one hundred items, many inscribed to Professor Roy or annotated by the publisher, and some originally published in tiny editions (as small as only five or ten copies). This exhibition charts three intertwining stories: the development of Akros (and of several associated publishing imprints); its important role in recovering MacDiarmid's poetry and reputation in the poet's later years; and Glen's own career as poet, publisher and graphic designer. As his specially-written introduction makes clear, Glen is no doctrinaire hand printer, and his design interest has allowed him to exploit a variety of printing technologies over his years as a publisher. In preparing this exhibit, we have been greatly aided by Mr. Glen's generous help-in Professor Roy's acquisition efforts.
Recommended Citation
University of South Carolina, "University of South Carolina Libraries - Duncan Glen & Akros: Forty Years of a Scottish Press, Spring 2002". http://scholarcommons.sc.edu/rbsc_pubs/46/
Comments
This catalog accompanied the Spring, 2002 USC Libraries exhibit, Duncan Glen & Akros: Forty Years of a Scottish Press. The exhibit was drawn from the Libraries' G. Ross Roy Collection.