Matrix Series

While perusing the Whittington Press Shop I noticed this little blurb under the description for the next issue Matrix 36:Matrix 36 is now in proof, and will be published in Spring 2020. It will be an unusually full issue as it may be the last in the series. It can be reserved now at the pre-publication price of £90.

This is pretty big news if true. Any word from some of our more in the know members?

>1 Sorion:

Confirmed by the Press:

“I was hoping that Matrix 35 was the last, but it’s proving difficult to kill off. It will be printed next year. It’ll be a big issue as there are so many good things I wish to squeeze in before it goes. I shall say that 36 is the last,but one never knows what lurks round the corner. Anyway,36 is three-quarter set and proofed”.

>2 gmurphy: Well that’s a shame and the end of a storied publication.

My copy of Matrix 36 arrived this afternoon (Christmas Eve) having been posted two days earlier. No obvious statement that it is the final issue, but the Acknowledgements mention "the ninety-two subscribers who have stayed with us since the first issue of Matrix in 1981 - nearly a third of the original subscription." And there's a colour photograph of the spines of Issues 1-35 tipped into the inside of the dust-jacket.

Look on the page opposite the photograph of the Danube Delta p. 196 and you will see the 'farewell': Vale 10.viii.20. Sadly it is the final issue of Matrix, but there will be an index to the complete series of 36 volumes later.

Sad to see it go, even though I never could afford the damned thing.

>6 Glacierman: I think you'd really like "Type & Typography: Highlights from Matrix." There's a special, deluxe version, but the regular trade hardcover is all you need (unless you're a Matrix completist). The articles in there come from some of the earlier issues of Matrix and showcase some of the very important work done in its pages. I bought this before I got any individual issues of Matrix, and it got me hooked. Several of their issues (7, 15, 20, 24) are some of my most-read fine press books. The approach in most of the articles is pretty academic/scholarly, which is great for us who want to see behind the curtains.

I'm really sad to see it go, too. I suppose I'll have to start dipping my toe in the waters of "Parenthesis" now!

>7 DenimDan: I actually have that book (Type and Typography: Highlights from Matrix), and am glad of it. It is a great compilation. Regarding Parenthesis, that would be money well spent. I have a fair run, but the most recent years are spotty, as I have been spastic in keeping my membership in FPBA current.

>6 Glacierman: "I never could afford the damned thing."

The pre-publication/subscriber prices for Matrix issues 1-7 were £10, £15, £20, £25, £30, £40, £45; for issues 8-14 £47.50, £52.50, £62.50, £75, £80, £82.50, £85; and issues 15-36 were £90 each. The reprints of Matrix 1 and 2 were £22.50 and £55.

So the 92 who subscribed to the entire run would have paid £2727.50 for all 38 issues.

Not exactly cheap, but I always thought it was pretty good value. And amazing that the price did not change in the last 25 years.

>6 Glacierman: if you have a spare £30k lying around then you could catch up in style https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=14790099066

>10 ubiquitousuk: ROTFLMAO!!!!!

I have the last 2 books in the series and I believe it was an excellent value for money if you are interested in the subject matter. The printing quality and numerous tipped-in pages are a feast to the eyes.I will definitely miss the series.

>4 tim_rylance: That finely composed photograph of all the Matrix spines fetchingly in a row, is by Bill Woodbridge, proprietor of Woodbridge Rare Books, whose specialism is modern fine presses, with an emphasis on Stanbrook Abbey Press. John Randle, who credits the photograph to Woodbridge in the inside flap of the issue, first caught sight of it at this book dealer's Abebooks listing for a full run of the regular issue, and took to it so much, he thought it a fitting tip-in for this ‘vale’ issue of ‘A Review for Printers and Bibliophiles.’