Two book-makers with faces the same

As a small child I was fascinated by books, and apparently used to read at the same time as I was (slowly) getting dressed in the morning! When my mother asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I allegedly replied, “Me and Stephen are going to be two book-makers with faces the same.” By “book-makers” I obviously meant producers of books, and naturally I never actually consulted my younger brother on this!

When I was a new Bahá’í, in my early twenties, the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Birmingham asked me if I would like to take over the running of their book sales. I accepted the suggestion, and I have been selling books ever since. When my wife Ann and I moved to the Warwick District, the new Bahá’í group set up the Warwick Bahá’í Bookshop. We were soon invited to be an official Bahá’í book agency, selling books over a wide area of the Midlands - at conferences and weekend schools, for example. When I was a new Bahá’í, I used to read every Bahá’í leaflet or pamphlet I could obtain, preferring these “bite-sized chunks” to adult-sized volumes, and now part of our work as a book agency was selling these same leaflets.

In 1989, by which time we had moved to Southam, there was a hiccup in the supply of leaflets. People were ringing us up, asking for leaflets, but we were simply unable to obtain them – virtually every popular title had been allowed to go out of print! Ann said, “I wonder if we could write our own,” followed by, “I expect we could find a printer in Leamington to produce them – or maybe even in Southam!” So we found a printer (Clintplan Ltd) in Southam, and started writing our own leaflets. Ann designed a logo, and we were off! Our leaflets were also sold to Bahá’ís in other countries; many of them were even reprinted in the United States and in Australia. Over time, we produced more than sixty different leaflets. Steadily the number of individual leaflets sold also pushed ahead, passing the one million mark in 2016!

What are the leaflets for? Basically, they are a means of passing a bit of information on the Bahá’í Faith to people who know little or nothing about it. Some leaflets are general introductions, and try to give an overall picture of Bahá’í history, teachings and philosophy, but diluted down to get it onto what is essentially two sides of a sheet of A4 paper. Not an easy task, and you have to miss out so much! However, most of the leaflets we write are about one specific area, such as “Health and Healing”, “Caring for the Environment” or “The Way to World Peace”. Such leaflets are like holding a magnifying glass to one part of the Bahá’í teachings, and are helpful to Bahá’ís as well as to enquirers. They can also be used when Bahá’ís and their friends get together, each with a copy of the same leaflet, and study the topic together.

In 2012, the second edition of my simple introductory book, (imaginatively entitled “The Bahá’í Faith”), was due to be published by a proper publishing house. However, a set of unforeseen circumstances forced us to publish it by ourselves. Ann did the editing, and Clintplan organised all the technical side. This was then the beginning of another strand of publishing. It is now 2019, and we already have twelve small books published - four written by our daughter - all with ISBNs and attractive covers, and we sell them in significant numbers to Bahá’í distributors and suppliers in other English-speaking countries.

And what are the booklets about? “The Bahá’í Faith” is an illustrated introduction, originally meant for young people. Our daughter’s four books are 32-page short biographies, telling the reader “The Life of the Báb” or “The Life of Bahá’u’lláh”, for example. Almost every one of our titles is meant to give a simple, affordable and readable introduction to an aspect of the Bahá’í Faith. Most cost just 50p or £1! Generally, the Bahá’ís buy them for their children, to give away to their friends, or to lay out for people to take from Bahá’í stalls at public events.

There are a number of Bahá’í principles related to literature. “Independent investigation of truth” often appears first in a list of Bahá’u’lláh’s principles. Each individual has the right – or even duty – to investigate the truth for himself or herself. Freedom of speech and freedom of conscience are also Bahá’í principles. Alongside these basic principles, people who work in publishing non-fiction have a duty to investigate and publish the truth. As Bahá’u’lláh Himself put it: “The pages of swiftly-appearing newspapers are indeed the mirror of the world… endowed with hearing, sight and speech. It behoveth the writers thereof to be purged from the promptings of evil passions and desires and to be attired with the raiment of justice and equity. They should enquire into situations as much as possible and ascertain the facts, then set them down in writing.”

Another part of Bahá’u’lláh’s blueprint for the world is that the governments should choose either an existing language or a newly-created one as an auxiliary language, to be taught in all the schools of the world, alongside the mother tongue of each area. This would enable a traveller to talk to people wherever he/she went. Bahá’u’lláh also suggested that all the world’s literature should be translated into this common language, enabling us all to share in the world’s literary heritage: “O members of parliaments throughout the world! Select ye a single language for the use of all on earth, and adopt ye likewise a common script… This will be the cause of unity, could ye but comprehend it, and the greatest instrument for promoting harmony and civilisation.”

This development is still for the future, so at present we sell our books to predominately English-speaking countries such as Australia, South Africa and the United States of America. However, as part of the Bahá’í ideal that the world should become one, we are always happy to give permission to the Bahá’ís in other countries to translate our publications into their local languages (should they so wish), and demand no royalty for the Warwick Bookshop. One of our authors, who is entitled to a personal royalty, asks these other countries if they can afford to support a charity working in overseas development, instead of paying her personally.

And what of my brother Stephen? He has also recently become involved in the publishing of Bahá’í books. There is a talented and original Bahá’í artist living in Bristol, who has copiously illustrated over two dozen books either of Bahá’í Scripture or of quotations, with often stunning results. The quotation books are on themes, such as “Oneness” or “Mindfulness”, which speak to thoughtful people. Steve was appalled to learn that, following the death of the original owner of the publishing house used by the artist, the stock of each title was being run down, with no plans to reprint them. Steve and his wife Becky invested money into the reprinting of these illustrated works and have put time and effort into making them available to the wider world. Although my professional career was as a schoolteacher, and Stephen’s was in the world of examination boards, we have both accidentally ended up as “book-makers”, although whether our faces are the same, I will leave it for you to judge!