NewingtonPress

Out of print.Back in print, with every picture.

A family’s last copy. A publisher’s backlist. A collection of papers waiting to be read. We restore the pictures, set the text in new type and bring the book back in print, as an audiobook, or as an archive you can ask questions.

Tell us about your book Hear a sample

A person replies. A fixed quote before work begins.

A colour plate from The Dawnchild, 1926: Mig at her window, a large dark bird in the apple tree outside
The Dawnchild, cover of the Dawnchild Books edition
Plate 1 of 8. The Dawnchild, Faber and Gwyer, 1926; our edition for Dawnchild Books.
Contents

Three things we do with old books

  1. Bring a book backA family’s copy becomes a book in print again, with its pictures.from £1,500
  2. Give it a voiceNarrated, mastered and chaptered for your shop and the stores.from £600
  3. Open the archiveAsk a collection in plain words; every answer cites the passage.pilot £1,500
§ 1Editions

A grandmother’s cookbook, a regimental history, a children’s book nobody can find.

You have the one copy, or a scan. We keep every picture, set the text in new type that respects the original’s shape, and prepare a new edition: a few copies for the family, or a book readers can buy.

For families and estates, local and regimental histories, societies and small presses. Paid editions are published under your own name or Newington Press, separately from the Dawnchild Books list.

  1. LookTell us what you have. We review the material and the rights before giving a quote.
  2. RestorePlates and drawings cleaned and matched to the original; never redrawn, never generated.
  3. ResetNew type; printer’s errors corrected, spelling and voice left alone.
  4. ProofYou review the edition before it goes to print. Scope and corrections are agreed first.
  5. PublishCopies for the family, a public release, or continuing publication under Newington Press.
For a family

Family edition

from £1,500
  • Up to about 300 pages, with every line drawing kept
  • New typesetting, proofread once against the original
  • Hardback or paperback, printed to order; ten copies included
  • A private edition or a book on sale: your choice
  • The print files are yours to keep
For the trade

Publisher’s edition

from £3,000
  • The family edition, with the colour plates in colour
  • ISBNs, hardback, paperback and ebook
  • Retail and trade listings, with an advance information sheet
  • A page for the book, its pictures, a sample and its history
  • Audio, a larger first printing and a history note as additions

Keeping it in print

We can remain publisher of record, handle printing, post and customer questions, and send a royalty statement each quarter. After the printer’s cost, our share is fifteen to twenty percent of each sale; the agreed terms are set out before you commit. You can take the book back, and the files remain yours.

§ 2Audiobooks

A voice chosen for the book.

Send the ebook or the print file. We choose a voice with you, prepare a pronunciation list, master the audio and deliver chaptered files for your shop or distributor. Listen to two excerpts from our five-hour recording of The Dawnchild.

Excerpt · 1 min 19 s Chapter One: Mig Meets the Dawnchild
Excerpt · 1 min 12 s Chapter Five: The Journey to Dawnland
Length
5 h 19 min
Chapters
16 marked
Loudness
−21.2 dB RMS
Peaks
−4.9 dB
For publishers

Narration only

from £600
  • Up to ten finished hours; £50 an hour beyond that
  • Voice sample and pronunciation list agreed with you
  • Chapter marks, credits and a square cover from your jacket
  • MP3 masters and a chaptered M4B for direct sale
  • One round of corrections; distributor listings if wanted
With an edition

Alongside a new edition

from £450

Add audio to a family or publisher’s edition: a chosen voice, pronunciation list, chapters, cover and files for your own shop.

With consent

A voice the family knows

from £1,500

A family voice can be used only with the speaker’s recorded consent, or written agreement from the estate for a deceased person. Its use is disclosed. Voice data is deleted when the work is done unless retention is agreed.

Our narration is synthetic, from licensed voices, and clearly disclosed; a person checks names, places and pace. We send a free two-minute sample of your own book before you commit. A straightforward book can be delivered in a week; timing and store eligibility are confirmed in your quote, and each store decides what it accepts. Human narration is also available at the narrator’s rate plus our fee.

§ 3Archive search

An archive that answers, and shows you the page.

A backlist, journals, minute books, letters, a society’s century of newsletters. We index the collection so staff, members or readers can ask in plain words, with answers that cite the passages they came from. Here is a real answer from our demonstration, which searches the Dawnchild books.

Asked

What did the Gourmets’ Club do at Sime Road?

The Gourmets Club met on the embankment outside Newington’s hut at Sime Road.12 They would “lay” a table using a broken sheet of asbestos balanced on a box.12 During the hour-long meeting, the club members discussed each course, from cocktails to savouries, in detail, imagining they were dining.12

  1. Good Food, P. C. B. Newington, 1947. Preface.
  2. Good Food, P. C. B. Newington, 1947. Foreword to this edition.
Answered in 4.3 s · 764 passages searchedAsk it something yourself
  • Every answer citedto the source, so each one can be checked. When the archive does not hold the answer, it says so.
  • Kept on our serversin Germany. Archive text is not sent to an outside AI company.
  • Yours to leaveThe index can be exported and the service stopped at any time.

Scans, PDFs, Word files or ebooks, with text recognition for scans; private to your organisation or public on your own site. A sixty-day pilot costs £1,500 for up to about five thousand pages, set up within two weeks for a suitable collection. If you keep it, the service is £150 a month and the pilot fee counts against the first year. We review the source material, access needs and scope before agreeing the pilot.

§ 4Work

Our own imprint is the proof.

Dawnchild Books publishes illustrated books for children and the home, 1926 to 1947: original pictures, carefully set type, books made to be read again. Our commissioned work is kept separate from the Dawnchild list.

The Dawnchild, cover

The Dawnchild

Beryl Irving, 1926. All eight colour plates, 279 pages set afresh, an audiobook of 5 h 19 min.

Daffy Goes to Sea, cover

Daffy Goes to Sea

Beryl Irving, 1932. The C. Cavania Sanders jacket and the author’s drawings, 211 pages.

Good Food, cover

Good Food

P. C. B. Newington, 1947. Set from the copy in the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive, University of Michigan.

Cover in preparation

The Family Week-End Book

Beryl Irving, 1941. 376 pages and over a hundred drawings, in preparation.

§ 5Prices

Prices, before you ask.

ServiceFromWhat is included
Family edition£1,500New typesetting, every drawing kept, ten printed copies, the files
Publisher’s edition£3,000Colour plates, ISBNs, three formats, retail listings, a book page
Narration only£600Up to ten finished hours; then £50 an hour
Audio with an edition£450Voice, pronunciation list, chapters, cover and files
A voice the family knows£1,500Only with the speaker’s recorded consent or the estate’s written agreement
Archive pilot£1,500Sixty days, up to five thousand pages; then £150 a month
Staying in print15–20%Of each sale after printing, with quarterly statements

Every job gets a fixed quote, scope and terms to approve before paid work begins. Samples are free.

§ 6Questions

A few practical things.

Do I need to own the copyright?

We check the text, pictures and intended publishing territories before quoting. You need the relevant rights or permission where copyright still applies. Owning an old copy does not by itself grant those rights.

Will you change the pictures or the author’s voice?

We use the original pictures, not generated replacements. The original spelling and voice are respected; the treatment of printer’s errors, missing material and any editorial additions is agreed with you.

Must the book be sold to the public?

No. A family edition can remain private. Public distribution and publication under Newington Press are optional.

Who is Newington Press?

The studio behind Dawnchild Books, part of Focal Point International LLC, and named for the family whose books started it: Beryl Irving was born a Newington, and her brother Campbell wrote Good Food from memory in an internment camp. Our commissioned work is kept separate from the Dawnchild list. See how the Dawnchild books and their pictures are made.

When do I pay?

Nothing is charged by the enquiry form. You receive a quote, scope and terms to approve before paid work begins.

§ 7Enquire

Tell us about the book.

A title, a few details, the number of pages if you know it, and a photograph of the title page if you have one. Say what you have: one copy, a scan, loose plates, or a whole collection. You do not need a finished brief.

A person replies within two working days. Nothing is charged until you have a quote and have said yes. No picture we make comes from generative software.

You can also write to our shared studio address:
[email protected]

Your enquiry goes directly to the studio.

We use your details only to respond to this project. No newsletter sign-up. How we handle your information.