The Aardvark Blog

Why I Love Batsford
19/06/2026

Following our move to our new location I am finally starting to look at the books that we bought at London Book Fair in March (I confess that this seems a lifetime ago now) , and amongst those coming out of the boxes are a brilliant group of titles from Batsford Publishing, an historic publisher that has had a real renaissance in the last few years.

Started in the middle of the 19th century as a bookshop, the company moved into publishing in the 1870's, but really reached its zenith under Charles Fry and then under his nephew Brian Cook. The company specialised in publishing several series of books on mainly topographical and architectural subjects, and the cover art quickly became a major selling point.

In particular the images created by Brian Cook have spawned a whole graphic design meme, with variations on his techniques and colours showing up constantly in magazines, book design and even television titles; note, for example the credits for the retread of 'All Creatures Great and Small' which are a total lift from what Brian Cook was famous for.

As with many of the smaller independent publishing houses, Batsford went through a variety of owners after it ceased to be a family-owned independent company, and eventually was combined with another well known (if more recent) illustrated book publisher, Pavillion. A few years ago Pavillion and Batsford were split up (the former becoming part of Harpercollins) and Batsford became an independent imprint once more. In the last couple of years the management have bought a couple of other well known publishers: Pitkin, who are well known for their small colour paperbacks on a variety of topics; and Scala, a specialist arts publisher who work with museums and other institutions to produce outstanding exhibition catalogues and well thought out collection introductions.

Amongst the Batsford and Scala titles that I found this time when I opened the boxes were a number of new poetry titles - including 'A Nature Poem for Every Night of the Year' and the really unique 'The Art of Couture Embroidery' which builds on a particular strength of the modern Batsford list, its books on textiles and textile art. What I really like about this book is that it combines a general introduction, short introductions to the work of different designers who have used embroidery and practical layouts showing how you can replicate some of the embroidery techniques.

I have always loved textiles and back when we did exhibitions we showed a number of textile artists and makers including the brilliant Bobby Britnell, Ruth Issett, Drusilla Cole and others. I also have a total admiration for the independent Parisian ateliers who have worked with famous designers to produce the extraordinary haute couture dresses that Paris Fashion Week shows have featured so prominently, with incredible bodices and appliqué skirts. In its 150 or so pages this book achieves an incredible amount, and if you are interested in textiles and costume, it is a brilliant present for yourself or if you're feeling generous, someone else!

On the subject of Mr Aardvark's obsessions, a Scala title I really like is a new catalogue of the art of Jules Olitski called 'Spray'. Olitski was a second generation Abstract Expressionist and chronologically was closer to the abstract colour field artists such as Helen Frankenthaler and Kenneth Noland. The AE/CF period of modern art is perhaps my favourite of all and I absolutely love all the artists who worked on abstraction during that time.

Like the Armenian born artist Arshile Gorky, Olitski was born in Ukraine (then part of the former Soviet Union) and moved to America as a young man. Alongside a number of artists such as the brilliant Jean Paul Riopelle (and for that matter Herefordshire's adopted son Sidney Nolan), Olitski started to use spray cans for much of his art. His abstract paintings have a luminous quality, and he experimented widely in terms of pattern, depth of colour and texture.

All of these books and more on art, design, architecture, photography and other topics will be available in our online bookshop, with many more brilliant new titles from Batsford and other publishers appearing over the next few weeks.