Book of Islay facsimile off the presses soon

Kevin Byrne from Colonsay publishers, House of Lochar, has give us an update on the progress of the initiative to publish a facsimile of the Book of Islay. (See original story for the details.)

They have now received a proof copy of  the edition and Byrne is ‘staggered at the quality of the reproduction’.

Now for some of the practical stats on the A4 sized publication:

• even in paperback it weighs 1924 gms ‘in its pelt’
• add about 2 kgs for a cardboard wrapper

This means that postage costs will be significant.

• For Canada, USA, New Zealand and Australia it will cost more than £20.00 a copy to airmail.
• Within the UK it will be £6.55 for postage. (Postage charges are scheduled to increase in April.)

The normal Recommended Retail Price is likely to be £65.00 a copy (to include postage since it is unlikely to be found in a local bookstore)

Those who expressed interest in advance will now have the option to buy the edition at £35.00 plus postage.

Byrne’s advice in saving postage costs is that people living outside the UK may wish to arrange for the book to be delivered to a UK address, if they are planing to be in the country in the foreseeable future.

Anyone living in Islay or Oban may wish to arrange to have their copies uplifted from Colonsay. Where a copy has been prepaid post-free ‘to be collected later’, House of Lochar will label it and keep it safe until it is picked up.

250 copies have been ordered and will be delivered in about a fortnight. The publishers will not take any payments or firm orders in advance, but as soon as the copies are in hand, they will email and arrange a special online purchase-page which will not available to the general public.

Everyone on the email list will have a clear week to place their order before anyone else gets a chance.

Even after that, House of Lochar will keep 10% of the total advance orders aside for a further month. This means that if anyone’s is away on business or holiday or their broadband is down, they will not be disappointed.

After that first week, the publisher will start to sell the book in the normal way. The intention is to have it stocked in Bowmore, Colonsay and Oban. Because of the weight and cost, it is unlikely to reach many other shops.

The RRP will be £65.00 but of course the shops might choose to discount it. Byrne has had expressions of interest coming in  from all over the world -  and says he expects: ‘our post office in Colonsay to be very busy.’

It will appear on www.amazon.co.uk but Kevin Byrne is not sure that it will reach their other sites.

He cannot predict what price will be charged either by Amazon or by the bookshops in the locations identified above, but cannot see any way that it could be cheaper than the £35.00 plus postage offered to advance purchasers.

The publishers are still prepared to receive advance expressions of interest at the discount price now quoted of £35 plus postage per copy.

If you have an interest in acquiring a copy of this facsimile edition, please:

• send an email with ‘Book of Islay information’ in the subject line
• to:  byrne@colonsay.org.uk

House of Lochar will then add your email address to the list of those to be contacted to confirm purchase once the copies of the publication have been delivered.

There is a Newsletter and a ‘Book of Islay’ page at the House of Lochar website, where you can check for any developments – and stand by for more information within the fortnight.

The photograph above is of the Lighthouse at Carraig Fhada at Port Ellen on Islay. It is by Ron Steenvoorden of Islay Weblog, who has placed it in the pubic domain.