Coach House Press : Considered one of the leading small press publishers in Canada for its finely-crafted books, the Coach House Press was founded in 1965 by printer Stan Bevington and editor Wayne Clifford. Clifford was succeeded by Victor Coleman in 1966 who remained editor until 1974. In its formative years (1965 to 1975), Coach House was a cohesive printing and publishing unit, publishing innovative and activist open-form writers from the United States and Canada in a style characterized by hand-set type and multi-coloured offset printing. In 1974, the single literary editor was replaced by an editorial board consisting of Coach House writers and other members of the staff (Stan Bevington; writers bp Nichol, Michael Ondaatje, Frank Davey, David Young; graphic artist Rick/Simon; and writers' agent Linda McCartney). During the 1974-1988 period, the press expanded its scope to publish established writers, such as D.G. Jones, Louis Dudek, Eli Mandel, Dorothy Livesay, Robert Kroetsch, Phyllis Webb, as well as, emerging writers. Diverse titles produced include textbooks, such as Ondaatje's The Long Poem Anthology (1979) and Bowering's Fiction of Contemporary Canada (1980), various titles on the history of Canadian photography and architecture and a Quebec translation series of works by Ferron, Brossard, and others.
In 1987, the publishing side of the operation was sold to the editorial board. Eventually, a limited company was formed to acquire the press from Bevington and the publishing house was reorganized to function as a more mainstream and profitable enterprise. Due to generous government subsidies in the early 1990s, the new Coach House prospered. Its titles were commercially designed and printed, with distribution by McClelland & Stewart. But, by the mid-1990s Coach House was affected by changes in the Canadian book industry and by reduced funding. In 1996, the directors of Coach House voted to dissolve the Press's operations and return all copyrights to its authors.
In January 1997, Stan Bevington launched Coach House Books. The Internet-based Coach House Books publishes Canadian poetry, experimental fiction, artist books and drama in the finely designed and crafted small press tradition. Coach House Books is redefining the concept of publishing by offering texts, in their entirety, online through their Web site (www.chbooks.com), as well as, digital ephemera and other projects which present a digital spin on the Coach House tradition.
