less
[series 2 | 2022-]
Introducing the next three issues in the second series of less.
Each issue of less is devoted to a single new work by one poet or artist and is published in an edition of 150. The second series of less continues the minimalist preoccupations of the first series.
**Special Small Publishers Fair 2023 offer: all nine issues published so far £35 purchase
This offer is now continuing through Christmas in celebration of the Small Publishers Fair 27-28 October.
The third set of three issues were published in April 2023. They feature work by Leonard McDermid, Imi Maufe, and Chris McCabe.
Issues of less cost £5 each
Issues 7-9 are available at a special group price of £12. PURCHASE
(They can be purchased separately below.)
The second three issues (4-6) were published together in September 2022. They featured work by Lila Matsumoto, Danni Storm, and Imogen Reid.
Issues of less cost £5 each.
Issues 4-6 are available at a special group price of £12. PURCHASE
(They can be purchased separately below.)
The first three issues (1-3) were published together as a group in March 2022 and featured Greg Thomas, Petra Schulze-Wollgast, and derek beaulieu.
Issues of less cost £5 each.
Issues 1-3 are also still available at a special group price of £12. PURCHASE
(They can be purchased separately below.)
Information about the first series of less can be found near the bottom of the page.
Less #9 | Chris McCabe
less #9 | process | Chris McCabe | single print, h125mm x w80mm, enclosed in a partially see-through glassine bag | printed inkjet on Bockingford watercolour paper | April 2023 | £5 | purchase
Chris McCabe’s work spans artforms and genres including poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama and visual art. He is the author of five collections of poetry and co-editor of The New Concrete: Visual Poetry in the 21st Century (Hayward, 2015). @mccabio1977
Less #8 | Imi Maufe
less #8 | [untitled] | Imi Maufe | h190mm x w285mm; h120mm x w285mm when closed/folded | single sheet of found brown kraft paper | perforated on a perforating machine made in Leipzig; colophon printed on a Heidelberg A3 Windmill in Gill sans, semi bold | printed & created by Imi Maufe at the Bergens Tekniske Museum, Norway | April 2023 | £5 | purchase
Imi Maufe is a British visual artist based in Bergen, Norway. Maufe works with artist books, text, installations, interactions and performance, often documenting journeys and everyday experiences. In 2013 Maufe established the artist collective – Codex Polaris, which promotes and curates possibilities for artists who work with books in Norway and the Nordic Countries. www.imimaufe.com
Less #7 | Leonard McDermid
less #7 | Way Out | Leonard McDermid | folded card h210mm x w95mm, in a black DL envelope | printed inkjet on Bockingford watercolour paper | April 2023 | £5 | purchase
Leonard McDermid was a teacher for many years, mainly in the Scottish Borders, and undertook two appointments as artist to The Marine Society, working on merchant vessels. He covered over fifty thousand nautical miles world-wide, including work on a troopship ferrying soldiers across the South Atlantic and on a tanker in the Arabian Gulf during the ‘Tanker War’. Letterpress printing is a significant facet of Leonard’s artistic output and he established the Stichill Marigold Press in 1990. Under this imprint he has produced a wide array of handmade pamphlets. One such, And for that minute, was awarded the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award in 2010, and another, Landway, won the final iteration of that prize in 2018. stichillmarigoldpress.com
Less #6 | Imogen Reid
less #6 | Saccade | Imogen Reid | single print, h210mm x w190mm, in folder | printed inkjet on Bockingford watercolour paper | September 2022 | £5 | purchase
Imogen Reid is an artist and writer with an interest in developing non-conventional forms of readability. Her work has been published by Osmosis Press, To Call, 3AM etc. She has pamphlets with Gordian Projects, Nightjar Press, Timglaset, & Overground Underground.
Less #5 | Danni Storm
less #5 | Speechless | Danni Storm | single print, h210mm x w150mm, in folder | printed laser; black card | September 2022 | £5 | purchase
Danni Storm is a visual poet and musician living and working in Copenhagen. Work by Danni Storm may be found online here.
Speechless is a visual poem typewritten on a Brother Deluxe typewriter.
Less #4 | Lila Matsumoto
less #4 | Light Hazzles | Lila Matsumoto | 3-part fold-out concertina on Hahnemühle sumi-e paper, h100mm x w390mm | in pale grey envelope 120gsm | printed inkjet | September 2022 | £5 | purchase
Lila Matsumoto lives in Nottingham. Her poetry publications include Twin Pipes Sprout Water (Prototype) and Urn & Drum (Shearsman). She plays in the bands Food People and Cloth.
Light Hazzles is a reservoir in Upper Calder Valley in West Yorkshire.
Less #3 | derek beaulieu
less #3 | [The blank white page contains the finest song] | derek beaulieu | h162mm x w229mm | grey envelope 120gsm printed inkjet; inner work made with Bockingford HP watercolour paper | March 2022 | £5 | purchase
Derek Beaulieu is the author/editor of over twenty-five collections of poetry, prose, and criticism. His most recent volume of fiction, a, A Novel, was published by France’s Jean Boîte Editions, his most recent volume of poetry, Surface Tension, is forthcoming from Coach House Books. Beaulieu has exhibited his visual work across Canada, the United States, and Europe and has won multiple local and national awards for his teaching and dedication to students. Derek Beaulieu is the Director of Literary Arts at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Banff’s 2022-2024 Poet Laureate.
www.derekbeaulieu.ca
Less #2 | Petra Schulze-Wollgast
less #2 | relationships | Petra Schulze-Wollgast | h140mm x w140mm | folder printed inkjet on Bockingford NOT watercolour paper 300gsm; inner work printed inkjet/laser on Bockingford NOT watercolour paper and tracing paper | March 2022 | £5 | purchase
psw is a Germany-based artistic discoverer in outdated printmaking techniques. She creates abstract typographics on typewriters and with dry transfer letters and duplicates her work with mimeographs – making books from her work. She is also the creator of the ongoing mimeo printed magazine ToCall and TYPEWRITTEN artists’ books serial.
www.psw.gallery
Less #1 | Greg Thomas
less #1 | moiré | Greg Thomas | h165mm x w190mm | folder printed inkjet on Bockingford HP watercolour paper 300gsm; inner work printed inkjet/laser on Bockingford HP watercolour paper and tracing paper | bound with linen thread | March 2022 | £5 | purchase
Greg Thomas is a poet, maker of small objects, and art critic based in Glasgow. Recent and forthcoming publications include Cloud Cover (Essence, 2018), from im and not this (SPAM, 2021), and particulates (Timglaset, 2022). A collection of candle poems is forthcoming from Poem Atlas in late 2022.
www.gregthomas.online
Moiré alludes both to effects achieved in textile production through certain calendering and weaving techniques, and to the history of concrete poetry, in which overlaid text creates effects of motion and dazzle. Poets known for this effect include Jiří Valoch, Bob Cobbing, and Paula Claire who pioneered the use of acetate, manouevred over a sheet of paper, to generate reader-activated moiré effects.
about series 2
The second series of less is conceived as a serial publication; each item in the series can vary in form, unlike the first series which had a consistent design applied across all issues. As editor, Julie Johnstone works closely with the contributing poets and artists to find a form that develops out of the content or concept of the piece.
less will be the primary way that Essence Press works with poets and artists for the foreseeable future. Submissions and ideas are welcome, although the press usually approaches contributors directly. The aim is to publish three issues two to three times a year, although less is an occasional rather than regular serial publication series.
less
[series 1 | 2009-2012]
The first series of less was a minimalist, and minimal journal exploring the notion of less. Each issue consisted of a single piece, either new or a reprinted work. less was conceived as an anthology issued in individual parts, each part existing in isolation for contemplation, and yet part of a project that loosely gathered under the conceptual idea of ‘less’.
less was edited by Julie Johnstone and published 2009-2012, in a hand-bound limited edition.
Each issue is £4.
1 : Samuel Menashe | purchase
2 : Robert Lax | purchase
3 : David Miller | purchase
4 : Tom Benson | purchase
5 : Jane Hirshfield | purchase
6 : Gerry Loose | purchase
7 : Alec Finlay | now reprinted purchase
8 : Richard Price | purchase
9 : Eugen Gomringer | purchase
10 : Thomas A Clark | purchase
11 : Alan Spence | purchase
12 : Barrie Tullett | purchase