In the interest of all the information that could be given about Biting Dog Press, it has taken Uncle Spider a bit longer than he’d like to bring you the Featured Publisher for Issue #2. We’ll be running an archive of this in issue #3 to give them the exposure we feel they deserve. Why not wait until #3 to publish this pithy trifle, you ask? Because there’s a bit of a tie in to one of our Featured Poets, Neil Gaiman, with Biting Dog Press. Not to mention, our On Poetry notations on Edgar Allan Poe, and BDP is far from being pithy or trifling.

David Dinsmore, publisher of Biting Dog Press, feels that Mr. Gaiman put them on the map when he agreed to let them publish his reprint story, Snow, Glass, and Apples as a limited edition book, as well as Murder Mysteries, Gaiman’s radio play. The result became poetry, literally. In between those two books BDP printed the poem A Writer’s Prayer for Neil as a broadside to be used as a sort of Christmas present for Neil to give away to friends and family. Such a poem has never been more collectible – a recent check on eBay boasted one going for $700, though we aren’t sure why anyone would want to give it up.

So, why would a guy like Gaiman be so impressed with a publisher like Biting Dog Press? It’s simple: they take great pains to craft their books using very old and traditional methods. George Walker does hand made, original engravings for each book published lending a tremendously vintage look and feel to the best paper one can find in a collectible volume, expertly put together to make a collector feel as if he or she could close their eyes and open them to a time 100 or 200 years ago, when book making was an art, not a marketing machine.

These types of presentations are costly and painstaking, as you can imagine. The limited edition for The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is no exception; it goes for about $150, and there are only 65 copies in existence*.

You’ll find the same artful engravings as in Snow, Glass, and Apples, if you were lucky enough to obtain a copy. Uncle Spider asked Dave Dinsmore why Biting Dog  does what they do, and not go down the same road that a lot of other small press publishers have gone – Print On Demand, cheaper odd sized print runs that get cheaper rates on cheaper paper, or even the promise of one or two fantastical super-heroes of Horror such as Stephen King – which often makes things expensive but highly collectible.

Dinsmore replied, “I think first that the story takes a back seat to the actual production and artwork. Some would disagree, but in a nutshell that IS true. We try to focus on the presentation of the whole thing, not just the story itself. Being handmade, the books are in themselves a work of art. We want to go further than just written text splashed on a page, we want the readers to be able to experience the story with sight, and touch, and feel, and sometimes the smell of the ink and leather and all things combined to make it an experience to savour.”

Uncle Spider liked that answer. Especially for poetry… where the modern day printing of such has become limited print runs of 500 copies or slightly more by University Presses, which seem to be some of the only mainstream publishers with mass-market reach (and extra dollars to risk) to get a project into the chain stores. BDP books are not for chain consumption, however. Their books will most likely be found for sale in independent bookstores, or through their website, direct.

The average Joe could not really afford such a lovely edition, and unless you are a die-hard fan of the authors they publish, the craft of book-making in general, or you have an unlimited mad-money fund for your collecting, I can’t say these books are for you. They are not the kind of books that you simply buy because you buy books of poetry, however. They are the kind of books you put on a shelf and keep for the rest of your life, and give to your children.

Uncle Spider is guilty of collecting many things: some are worthwhile and some are not. About 20 different versions of The Raven adorn his shelves, from near century-old editions to the crassly over-dramatized Barnes And Noble Complete Works. This edition, however, feels much more deserving than the rest, despite its modest look and feel. It is simply quality and not quantity. Everything that can be said about Poe has been said. We’re not even going to bother with that. It’s even rare that we consider yet another volume of Poe’s work to surface as noteworthy, let alone shelf-worthy… This one is.

We asked Biting Dog Press if they had any future plans to publish more poetry, and alas, they said they did not. Between the two companies, Biting Dog Publications and Biting Dog Press, but you can learn more about George Walker’s engravings from the book The Inverted Line, or pick up something from Nancy Collins or Jack Ketchum – other authors who have joined the Biting Dog family. Since we focus only on the poetry, here, we aren’t going to tell you too much about those. You’ll have to see for yourself.

*Spiderwords would like to note that Biting Dog Press graciously donated a copy of The Raven for us to give away to a lucky reader. See the contest for more details.