Ninja Press, Carolee Campbell

Ninja Press, Carolee Campbell Description

Ninja press was inaugurated in 1984 by Carolee Campbell who is its sole proprietor. While there was no specific literary agenda governing the selection of works to be published by the press at the outset, the abiding interest has been, in the main, contemporary poetry. The decision to embark on the path of bookmaking came from her extensive experience as a photographer working in the darkroom with both nineteenth and twentieth-century photographic processes. Turning photo- graphic sequences into bound books ushered the way into bookbinding, followed by experimental book structures. Eventually, she expanded her work into letter- press printing, thereby opening the way into contemporary poetry – confronting it for the first time with a directness and penetration she had seldom experienced as a reader.

One of the primary goals set at the inception of the press was to strive toward the highest standards of excellence in craftsmanship and quality while attempting to find new approaches to the union between word, image, and book structure. That aspiration continues to fuel the inspiration for future edition works as well as one-of-a-kind books.

Some of the institutions which hold all or significant Ninja Press books are the British Library, Brown University, University of California (Los Angeles), University of California (San Diego), University of California (Santa Barbara), California Polytech- nic State University (San Luis Obispo), California State University (Northridge), Columbia University, Dartmouth College, University of Delaware, Getty Research Institute, University of Iowa, Lafayette College, Library of Congress, University of Nevada-Reno, Occidental College, University of Pennsylvania, University of San Francisco, San Francisco Public Library, Scripps College, Smith College, Stanford University, University of Utah, University of Vermont, University of Washington, Wellesley College, Western Michigan University, and University of Wisconsin, Madison.