John Nicoll remembers working with an exceptional writer

John Nicoll the architectural history editor at Yale University Press and publisher of Mark Girouard’s last two books of reminiscences with Wilmington House Press remembers working with an exceptional writer.

Of course, like all authors, Mark was a pain to deal with. The manuscripts were late, the typing was indifferent, the references inconsistent, the manuscript revisions often unclear. And then the expectations were unrealistic: the number of illustrations, the proportion to be reproduced in colour, their size, their expense. And then the schedule; could it be out for this Christmas? Or at least the spring? And the pricing. Could it cost less than £10, maybe less than £20? And in the middle of all this the design—here Mark’s ideas were not, in my view at least, unreasonable, but they were never conventional or straightforward. He had a taste which not everybody shared, for highly contrast, ‘soot and whitewash’ it was called, black and white photographs taken by Edward Piper—wonderfully moody and atmospheric, but not always revealing the buildings as clearly as a conventional publisher might wish. He rather disdained the classic Country Life look.

But of course everything was forgiven as soon as one dipped into the text or began to consider the visual options and possibilities. The sheer readability and engagement, the originality of the ideas, the depth, breadth and scale of the research, the astonishingly salient or surprising visual conjunctions. Taken together one immediately knew that one was dealing with something special. Indeed one immediately knew that it was a unique privilege to be working with Mark on the book and one felt an obligation to try to make something special of it—to stretch the possible options, to take financial or political or even professional risks, and to bend the rules if necessary.

Fifty or more years later the results of our efforts no doubt show their age, and nowadays the expectations and the possibilities are very different, but the essential issues remain the same. How on earth are we to package these ideas and these images in a way that makes sense intellectually and visually and at a realistic cost? And how is the resulting package to be produced in a way and at a cost that results in something that real people will want to, and be able to, buy? Financial support from third parties is frequently the only way.

Hopefully the SAHGB grants in memory of Mark can help to square this circle.