SHELDRAKE PRESS was founded in 1979 by Simon Rigge, a writer
and editor with a background in magazines, partworks and
series publishing. He was formerly Series Editor at
Time-Life Books, London.
Under his leadership Sheldrake Press has built up a
reputation for original, meticulously finished and
attractively illustrated books, written by well-known
authors and governed by sound editorial standards. The main
subject areas are travel, heritage and cookery, with a
series of fill-in stationery books as a sideline: in short,
illustrated non-fiction.
An editorially led company, Sheldrake Press aims to inform,
entertain and persuade its readers. All its books contain a
lot of text. Probably more time and money is spent on text
than anything else, so you can be confident that what you
read has been carefully researched, checked, edited and
proof-read. Whenever you open a book, you should find your
interest aroused and held. With luck, you will also be
amused or inspired.
Authors who have contributed to the Sheldrake list include
Michelle Berriedale-Johnson, Frances Bissell, Douglas Botting,
Asa Briggs, Robin Guild, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Olney
and Miles Kington.
Many Sheldrake Press books have a campaigning edge. The
Railway Heritage of Britain is intended to draw attention to
the wealth of architecture and civil engineering works left
to us by I.K. Brunel and his peers, and to encourage their
conservation. The Wild Guides aim to describe the natural
world and engender a respect for its intricate web of
interdependencies on which ultimately we all rely for our
survival. The Victorian House Book sets out to stop the
encroachment of UPVC windows, reconstituted stone cladding
and dropped fanlights into streets of otherwise pleasing
terraces or gentleman's villas. Not, it needs to be said, by
haranguing, but simply by showing how to renovate and
decorate well.
Sheldrake Press started as book packagers, producing for
other publishers in the UK, US and Europe. Since 1991 the
company has been publishing under its own imprint in the UK.
International co-edition publishing remains the major part
of its business. Among its customers are Rizzoli
International Publications, Inc. and Stewart Tabori Chang,
Inc. in the United States, Editions du Chêne, part of the
Hachette group in France, Calderini in Italy, Meisinger
Verlag in Germany and Orion Forlag in Norway. In Holland the
company works closely with Inmerc b.v. and in the United
States, Interlink Publishing Group, Inc. distribute selected
Sheldrake Press books.
In the UK, sales representation is provided by Parker
Associates and distribution by Thomas Lyster Ltd.
Sheldrake Press is an imprint of Sheldrake Publications Ltd,
a member of the Sheldrake Holdings Group.