Lastingham, North Yorkshire: The Celtic Cross Press, 2001
One of 165 Numbered Copies
Signed by Artist, Printer and Wood Engraver Rosemary Roberts
Six Original Wood Engravings
Handset in Baskerville and Printed Letterpress
Bound by the Abbey Bookbindery, Camberley
A beautiful posthumously published story by the celebrated Orcadian writer George Mackay Brown, issued by the Celtic Cross Press in a finely made edition of only 165 numbered copies.
The Rose Tree was written by Brown in February 1990, six years before his death. Described by the publisher as a “beautiful Passiontide story,” it was first published separately in this special Celtic Cross Press edition in 2001 with the permission of John Murray.
The book was entirely typeset and printed letterpress by artist-printer Rosemary Roberts, who also created the six original wood engravings. Each copy was numbered and signed by Roberts at the colophon.
The Rose Tree belongs to the religious and seasonal dimension of George Mackay Brown’s writing.
Brown’s stories frequently transform the rhythms of ordinary life—birth, labor, hunger, worship, suffering, death, and renewal—into something resembling ritual or legend. In this Passiontide story, the imagery of the rose carries associations of beauty, sacrifice, suffering, resurrection, and spiritual renewal.
The story was written in February 1990 and was associated with Holy Week broadcasting that year. The present 2001 edition was its first separate appearance in book form.
Published after Brown’s death in 1996, it is a posthumous first separate edition.
George Mackay Brown was one of the most important Scottish writers of the twentieth century and the great modern literary chronicler of Orkney.
Poet, novelist, dramatist, journalist, and short-story writer, Brown drew repeatedly upon the islands’ Norse and Christian heritage, fishing and farming communities, folklore, local speech, and seasonal rituals. His writing joins the immediacy of everyday Orcadian life with myth, history, and religious symbolism.
Among his best-known books are Greenvoe, Magnus, Vinland, A Time to Keep, and Beside the Ocean of Time, the last of which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
The Celtic Cross Press was founded in 1984 by artist and printer Rosemary Roberts.
Over the following decades, the press produced a distinguished series of approximately twenty-five limited editions of poetry and short prose. Roberts generally undertook the illustration, typesetting, and letterpress printing herself, while specialist binderies completed the bindings.
The press developed an especially important relationship with George Mackay Brown, ultimately publishing fourteen limited editions of his poetry and prose between 1989 and 2013. It was the most sustained and significant private press associated with Brown’s work.
The Rose Tree is a particularly intimate example of that collaboration, joining one of Brown’s late religious stories with Roberts’ original wood engravings and restrained book design.
Illustrated with six original wood engravings by Rosemary Roberts.
These are not photographic reproductions pasted into the book, but relief prints created by Roberts specifically to accompany Brown’s story and printed as an integral part of the letterpress production.
The engravings possess the clarity, economy of line, and strong contrasts associated with traditional British wood engraving. Their restrained imagery complements the story’s devotional and seasonal character without overwhelming the text.
Roberts also handset the text, printed the book, and signed the limitation page, making this a unified artist-printer production.
The text was handset in Baskerville type and printed letterpress by Rosemary Roberts at the Celtic Cross Press, Ovins Well House, Lastingham, North Yorkshire.
The use of Baskerville gives the small volume an elegant, classical appearance particularly suited to Brown’s lucid prose. The impression of the type upon the paper and the individually printed wood engravings distinguish the book from a conventionally manufactured modern edition.
Hand-bound by the Abbey Bookbindery of Camberley, Surrey.
The binding consists of quarter grey cloth with maroon cloth-covered boards and a printed title label mounted on the front cover.
The restrained grey and maroon palette gives the volume a quiet, dignified appearance appropriate to its Passiontide subject. The binding is both traditionally constructed and unmistakably modern in presentation.
One of only 165 numbered copies, each signed by Rosemary Roberts.
This is copy number [INSERT COPY NUMBER].
Signed by Roberts at the colophon as artist, wood engraver, typesetter, and printer.
Please note that George Mackay Brown died in 1996. The book is therefore not signed by Brown; the signature is that of Rosemary Roberts.
Author: George Mackay Brown
Title: The Rose Tree
Description: A Passiontide story
Publisher: The Celtic Cross Press
Place: Lastingham, North Yorkshire
Date: 2001
Edition: First separate edition; posthumously published
Limitation: 165 numbered copies
Copy number: [INSERT NUMBER]
Signed: By Rosemary Roberts at the colophon
Typography: Handset in Baskerville
Printing: Letterpress, printed by Rosemary Roberts
Illustrations: Six original wood engravings by Rosemary Roberts
Binding: Quarter grey cloth over maroon cloth boards
Binder: The Abbey Bookbindery, Camberley, Surrey
Dimensions: Approximately 18 × 16.5 cm
ISBN: 0948261757
Fine, as issued.
The cloth binding is clean, bright, and exceptionally well preserved, with sharp corners and no significant rubbing, fading, staining, or surface damage.
The printed front-cover label remains clean and complete.
The binding is tight and square. The interior is crisp, clean, and free from foxing, inscriptions, bookplates, or other markings. The letterpress text and six wood engravings remain fresh and strongly printed.
The limitation statement and Rosemary Roberts’ signature are present at the colophon.
[Adjust this paragraph to record any small mark, bumped corner, inscription, bookplate, fading, or other imperfection visible in your copy.]
Please examine all photographs carefully, as they show the actual book offered and form part of the condition description.
Issued in only 165 copies, The Rose Tree is scarce in the original market, particularly in the United States.
Its appeal extends to collectors of:
Although copies appear periodically through specialist British dealers, few are offered in North America, and fine copies remain desirable within a complete collection of Brown’s limited and private-press publications.
A beautifully made and intimate presentation of a late George Mackay Brown story, uniting his characteristic religious imagination with Rosemary Roberts’ original wood engravings, hand-set typography, letterpress printing, and restrained private-press design.