“As is the case with every single book from Easy On The Eye publishing, the quality is incomparable, Graham Bonnet – The Story Behind The Shades is no exception…” Lovely review from one of the biggest Greek rock music sites (rockpages.gr) which can be read in full on our review page. It’s so good when people really get what you’re trying to achieve.
In action!
Nice photograph sent by Jonathan Fogerty of the spinal-cord injury charity Spirit, presenting copies of the Easy On The Eye book to staff at the Oswestry spinal-cord injury Centre. Jonathan has flagged the story up on the Spirit website.
Nice to see one of our books ‘in action’ as it were! They will be used by staff and patients at the centre. The book is now being distributed through bookshops and regular online sellers, having been originally mail order only to the medical profession as it were. There are discounts for NHS orders.
Big Mama Thornton
Here’s another great (albeit it pre-restoration) shot from the upcoming book of Brian Smith’s blue photographs: Big Mama Thornton, who he photographed backstage in Manchester on a Blues package tour in 1965. We’ve been able to scan this from the original negative. I assumed the others were lost but no; “I only took the one photo, film was expensive as a young lad!” You can read more about the book on the site, and the photo also appears on the book designer’s own site with a sideways look at the outfit!
New reviews
We’ve been getting some nice comments and reviews in from customers, magazines and rock websites for the Graham Bonnet biography. We have posted some of these on a special review page on the site, but this one from Jens Nepper on the Eternal Terror site in Norway really seems to understand how much hard work went into it!
American Rhythm & Blues
We have been trying to work out a schedule for our next few titles and plan to make the book of Brian Smith’s rare rhythm and blues photographs our next release, and this will at last appear in early 2018. We will announce pre-orders soon and people will be able to have their copy signed by Brian if they order in advance of publication. The cover had to be submitted to our distributors this week and our designer took the opportunity to tweak this a little: “The cover photo is a no brainer; it both sums up Brian’s skill with a camera, the era in which it was taken, and the sheer joy some of these visiting blues players felt at playing in Manchester. But I was struggling to make my original title text work against the photograph. In the end I decided the vintage typeface was the cause of the problem, and have moved on to something more simple. This allowed me to sneak in a few smaller photos, including a great shot of Brian himself fooling with Screaming Jay Hawkins!”
We can show this new design below. There is still a bit of retouching work to be done but it’s about there.
Bonnet posting
Delivery of the Graham Bonnet book began this week, and will continue into next. Review copies have also been sent to selected media outlets and to people who helped us during the production of the book. Stock has also gone out to our distributors so should be available to order through high-street bookshops very soon. The limited edition signed version is only available from our own on-line shop.
Logistics
We spent some time with Graham Bonnet Biography author Steve Wright the other day so he could sign copies of the biography personally for people who had requested this option. Fuelled by tea and a Penguin biscuit we formed a chain; me opening at the right page, Steve signing, and Ann packing back into boxes. Oh and me forgetting to take any photos.
This gives us a logistical fun-time; we now have in effect four versions of the book to keep on top of! Regular edition; regular edition signed by author Steve; special edition signed by Graham, and special edition signed by Graham and Steve (on different pages of course)… So it’s a question of triple checking everyone’s paperwork before we pack.
Copies signed by Graham will also get a certificate sheet to guarantee it is what it is.
Bonnet has landed
The Graham Bonnet book is now in stock. We will begin mailing out next week once we have got all the stock shelved, counted and checked. It does look excellent though, and any fans of the singer should be pleased that he has been served so well by author Steve Wright and also by our design team. Everyone who has placed a pre-order will be emailed with an update next week and you can still do this for the next few days and get the discounted rate (or the special signed edition which is mail-order only.).
The delivery itself was huge fun; our office is down a narrow lane and we warn all delivery companies about this. So when the stock turned up on a full size continental articulated truck at rush hour last night it posed a few problems; there was the stock, all nicely palletised… but with no tail lift, or pallet trolley! The driver pretended not to speak English, opened the back doors for us, shrugged, got back in his cab and went to sleep. It took the pair of us about an hour to pull the pallet apart, unload the books onto one of our own pallets at the side of a busy road, then into the boot of our car, a drive round to the storage area under the office and unload; repeat six times! The joys of running your own business. We sneaked off to a local country inn for dinner, and figured we’d earned it!
Graham Bonnet pre-orders
We can now take pre-orders for Graham Bonnet – The Story Behind The Shades.
There are two editions, both are 176 pages, a regular edition and a Ltd Ed. signed slipcase edition, just 300 copies worldwide. PRE ORDERS ON BOTH EDITIONS NOW LIVE. You can read full details on the Graham Bonnet page, or if you wish jump straight over to the shop to place a pre-order. Shipping is due September, and all orders through the shop will be delivered ahead of any other stockist.
signed limited slipcase edition pre-order :
regular softback edition pre-order :
You can also see a Flipbook sample of 20+ pages on the site.
Shipping now
Anyone who pre-ordered the reprint of Wait For The Ricochet will be getting their copy over the next few days, indeed a lot of people have already received it. We will hold the special price for another fortnight. The book will be available to order through book shops etc. but this will take a few weeks, so if you want to jump the queue (and stop online slavery) order through us. For more on the book, read the post below.
easy on the eye books 