Pennant
PublishingPennant
PublishingOur family memories could have so easily been lost, but they have ended up in print distributed around the family. Here's the story.
In 1995, at the age of 82, my father decided to commit his memories of childhood in North Wales to writing, so that they would not die with him. Once started, the project expanded to include chapters about ancestors and deceased relatives. As someone who enjoyed using my computer to produce printed text, I was roped in, and the final result was Pennant Papers. Demand was such that the original 32 copies had to be expanded to 50.
At the same time, I grew interested in my past. On my enquiring about my family tree, my uncle said to me, "You need Aunt Margaret's notebook." My aunt had died in the mid 1980s. This notebook, which turned out to be the fruit of 30 years research, was nothing special to look at. It was lying in a drawer, and might have easily been thrown out in a clearout. It contained pedigrees going back to King Edward 3rd. I spent 18 months expanding the material, and the result was a family tree on a large roll, with 600 direct ancestors on it. This and the accompanying volume Pennant Notes went to all the 32 cousins who were interested, and so my aunt's work was not lost.
A year or so later, my wife's parents produced a number of old photographs from a cupboard. They lent these to me, and after scanning them, I produced a volume of family portraits blown up to A4 size with titles at the foot of the page, for each branch of the family. This in turn led to memories of the people being shared.
By then, my father was once
again in creative mode. This time, he produced legal
reminiscences of the South Wales circuit before and after World
War 2. My brother added a number of articles he had written over
thirty years, and the result was called Insects in Amber.
The 86 copies we printed were planned as Christmas presents.
Being paperbacks, they were less expensive to produce than our
earlier hardbacks, working out at around £5-75 each (see below).
Not only have we had fun producing these volumes, but family history which might well have been lost has been preserved for future generations.
It seemed to me that the skills I had acquired could usefully be shared, so Pennant Publishing was born on January 1st 2000. I look forward to hearing from you. Please contact me.
Thank you.
David Pennant
1. Pennant Papers, by D.E.T. Pennant, reminiscences of youth in North Wales, 156 pages, 8 photographs, bound in hardback (50 copies, 1995).
2. Pennant Family Tree, showing 600 direct ancestors back to 1066, 1 metre x 3 metres, (32 copies, 1996), and Pennant Notes, being accompanying notes on each ancestor, 95 pages, 107 photographs, bound in hardback (32 copies, 1996).
3. Warder Family Photographs, blown up to A4, with captions, softbound (4 copies, 1999).
4. Insects in Amber, by D.E.T. Pennant and Pyers Pennant, 75 years of stories and anecdotes, 192 pages, 20 photographs, softbound (86 copies, 2000). A5 format printed on A4 cut in half. Paper for printing sheets with photos at home £20-75, photocpying £241-66, printing 100 covers £52-35, perfect binding £131-00, finishing £20-00, sundry expenses like proofs £30-00, total £475-01.
5. Reprinting King Blacksack and
His Sword (1909), a children's book by Charles Stainer
(my great uncle) for family members. 18 copies were ordered in
advance: I had 51 printed to allow for later interest. They all
sold in time. I bound
them myself, in paperback (see
photo below). The costs were as follows. Photocopying 78
double-sided A4 pages £249-08 (100 gsm). Printing 75 covers A3
size with the title £51-95, and having the covers scored for
binding £7-50. Total £308-53. This works out at £6-04 per
volume, with some covers left over in case we need to create more
copies. 
6. Organising a dinner to celebrate the centenary of Sir John Stainer's death on 31st March 1901. Sir John was my great grandfather. Cousins even came from New Zealand, Tasmania, Australia and Canada. 100 old photos had appeared from attics which I scanned and printed out A4 size on thin card; they made an effective display.
7. Helping Barbara find her relatives. I went back four generations, using the Family Records Centre near the Angel, London. Sadly, the legendary uncle turned out not to be a relative after all. Oh dear.
8. Surge on! Stainer Family
Snapshot , ed. David F. Pennant, a collection of
articles and trees by family members to do with Sir John Stainer,
my great grandfather, with Victorian photos of family members on
most pages in the book and also on an accompanying CD Rom, 133
pages, casebound, A5 format (44 copies, 2001). The photos were
found in an attic in Kent, and were scanned and made available. I
printed and bound the books myself in hardback, using strong
materials and good quality paper to last for as long as possible.
9. The Attack of the Mutant Dualels by Michael Connor. As there were no requests for family history productions at the time, I produced ten copies of a science fiction novel by a local author. We made ten copies in hardback, and as the print shop ran off two in 80gsm paper rather than 100gsm before they realised their mistake, he got an extra two copies thrown in free. The standard of my hardback binding is improving. It's the same with everything; there is no substitute for practice.
10 The Priorities of Jesus by myself. Details here .