Mersey Minis

Published - April 2007

ISBN: 

Vol. 1 - 978-0-9548431-7-5

Vol. 2 - 978-0-9548431-8-2

Vol. 3 - 978-0-9556547-0-1

Vol. 4 - 978-0-9548431-9-9

Vol. 5 - 978-0-9556547-1-8

Project type: books, design

Print run: 25,000

In honour of Liverpool’s 800th birthday, we worked with local writer Deborah Mulhearn to curate Mersey Minis – a series of pocket-sized books collecting the best writings, prose, letters, and documents written about and throughout the city’s history.

Deb’s idea was to tell the stories of the city – the stories that helped define Liverpool throughout the ages, turning this small fishing town into one of the most well-known and unique cities on earth, equally celebrated and derided.

Published by our sister company Capsica, the Minis divide into five instalments (Landing, Living, Longing, Loving, Leaving). We worked closely with Deb to develop the idea and its look and feel, establishing its mid-century vibe. Deb sourced writing from everyone from King John to John Lennon, via Kerouac and Ginsberg. And everyone in between.

Two years in the making; we spent a year spent sourcing rights and gaining permissions alone, as Deb sifted through hundreds of texts from the some of the best public and private collections in the world.

For the third instalment, Longing, we hosted workshops and held a competition to find new writers for the book. We worked in schools, prisons and cultural centres, seeking out new voices and stories, with an editorial panel choosing content and winners.

And we commissioned artist Clare Curtis to create the front cover illustrations. Her nautical-themed wood cuts caught our eye, and we later arranged an exhibition of her work in Cook Street’s Editions gallery.

The Minis are, quite simply, the biggest variety of writing about Liverpool that we could find. Here’s to another 800 years.