Richard Hollick was born in Scotland and educated there and in England. After a youth spent in total devotion to rubgy football, he started working for Cambridge University Press in 1965, where he remained in various capacities for 29 years in London, Cambridge, and finally New York. Most recently he did print-on-demand for Oxford University Press in New York.
It really goes without saying (but nowadays one has to say these things) that the opinions expressed in this blog bear no relation, other than coincidental, to the policies and opinions of Oxford University Press. And now, having retired from OUP at the end of August 2013, I guess I really don’t even have to make that statement.
Making Book 
Thanks for taking the hit for me “boss”. Good to see you the other day and to now see your blog. You’re funny. BJ
Richard, I’ve just found your excellent blog and wonder if you’d be available sometime in November for an interview on my weekly audio podcast about the Kindle and eBooks. You will find my background info at http://thekindlechronicles.com/about . Thanks!
[…] Interview with Richard Hollick […]
I have been surfing on-line more than three hours today, yet I never found any fascinating article like yours.
It is beautiful value sufficient for me. Personally, if all webmasters and bloggers made excellent content as you probably did, the internet will probably be a lot more useful
than ever before.
Good morning Richard,
My name is Robert and I do some online presence management for the University of Southern California. I noticed you used our infographic titled “Industry Outlook on Library and Information Science” on Feb. 18th. First off, thank you for using our graphic! It looks great on your blog. However, I do have one question for you, just regarding proving a link to credit the use of the graphic. If you could email me back I would really appreciate it.
Thanks so much,
Robert Parmer
Are you asking if I’d add a credit link? If so yes, I would be glad to do so — indeed I believe I ought to. What wording should I use?
Hi Richard, thank you for your post on RefME, but notice you talk about the business model and how we might be looking to monetise adverts. This is not true and we have much more interesting avenues that we’d love to chat with you about, perhaps for a more in-depth article?
Thanks for the response. I steered clear of any suggestion that you might in some way be able to monetize the data you’ll collect on your users, as that acts as a red flag on many of the freedom-first crowd. But I’d be happy to hear more because I’d like to think your service will survive, and not just as a charity!
Richard
You might be interested in a post about London’s oldest bookshop moving after 78 years in the same premises which just happen to be the most haunted house in London:
http://spitalfieldslife.com/2015/11/26/all-change-at-maggs-brothers/
[…] of the Making Book […]
Hello, Richard! I’m a journalist and printing historian (self-made) in Seattle, researching the history of standing type and printing within editions. I found your wonderful entries here, and I wonder if I could get in touch? I’m at glenn@glennf.com. Thank you.
Hi, I used to work at Bentley House too (secretary to the office manager) and wondered if you have any news of Bob and Margaret Cowper. I can’t find anything much about them anywhere, thanks so much.
Not sure my reply went through — I’ve been away on holiday — but I did say I had only the information that they were running a bar on the Costa Brava or some other Spanish beach, but that was many years ago and pretty vague.
I wonder if you read my early post “A nightingale sang in Euston Square”, which mentions Bob and Margaret: https://rhollick.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/a-nightingale-sang-in-euston-square/
Thank you very much for your response! I bet they were great at running a bar. They were always very sociable and outgoing. All the best to you, Carol
Hello Richard and greetings from the old country.
As you know, one of the benefits of the internet age is the ability to watch a vast number of films and TV programmes which were made long before the coming of the internet age. I came across one such the other day which I thought may be of interest to you.
Talking Pictures TV is a UK TV station which shows nothing but these (ahem) ‘classic’ films and TV programmes. Many merely confirm the old adage that nostalgia ain’t what it used to be, but many are of social/historical interest. Amongst the latter are the ‘Look At Life’ short films made for UK cinemas in the 1960s.
I recently saw a ‘Look At Life’ short called ‘Cover Story’ on the topic of paperback book production. It shows a range of production activities, from cover design to binding. Your old friends the Syndics even get a look in, so I thought you may be interested in it.
The film is available on Talking Pictures’ catch-up service TPTV Encore (tptvencore.co.uk) where there is a section dedicated to the ‘Look At Life’ shorts. There are, however, a couple of provisos — a) you have to sign up for a user account, and b) access may be blocked if trying to view content from outside the UK. Proviso a) isn’t too onerous, and I believe there are ways to circumvent b) (but sadly I don’t know what they are).
I always enjoy reading your posts.
Regards,
Alan
Thanks. May have to wait till I’m back in the UK for a visit!