The Beginnings of Night Eye Books (1/4): The Collector

I'm Maurice: father of three, husband of one, friend to some, doctor to many, '80s child, and since 2024 the owner of my own printing workshop, set up to make a dream come true and print my own books. It was born out of a love for finely made books. This journal will chronicle that inspiration through my collecting journey, and once it catches up with the present it will follow my autodidactic endeavours in typography and printing.

This is the first of four posts: the collector in me; Oculi Fine Editions with Tim; the Collectible Book Vault with Zach; and finally Night Eye Books itself.

The spark and the name

My transition from reading to collecting books is one that many will recognise. All good things start with J.R.R. Tolkien. I devoured his books as an early teen; I suspect it was the deep world-building that fascinated me, and authors who invest heavily in it inevitably end up on my shelves. I did enjoy standalone works too: The Shining by Stephen King gave me my first sleepless nights during a summer holiday in France, and The Secret History by Donna Tartt was the first book that kept me up all night to finish it in one sitting.

I lost the reading habit in my late teens but rediscovered it when a fellow med student recommended Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice. The story of Fitz and Nighteyes gripped and moved me on so many levels that I have not stopped reading (mostly) fantasy and science fiction ever since. The name Night Eye Books is an ode to the wolf that has no king. There is more to the name, but that is for the Oculi post.

Like many others, my appetite for epic fantasy led me from The Wheel of Time to A Song of Ice and Fire and eventually to Malazan Book of the Fallen. Once I had The Crippled God under my belt, I felt the need to have the Malazan books in hardcover on my shelves because the massive paperbacks were all battered. But I couldn't find any — not with regular online retailers, nor in physical bookshops in the Netherlands. This was a time when I did not consider spending more than $30 on a book. Online crusades always led to a publisher named Subterranean Press. There was even a dedicated Facebook group for it, one that required me to apply for membership. It all felt mysterious in a good way, like some secret knowledge about Subterranean Press that could only be found behind a fence. I was accepted, and long story short, I found Gardens of the Moon, number 8 of 500, and paid handsomely for it in 2019: £1,825, to be exact. Even at an age where I could afford it, it felt like a barrier crossed. One of my best and worst habits is that I always need to pursue the best possible result, solution, option — whatever it is. So not even two months later I found a complete set of Malazan Book of the Fallen, the lettered edition by Subterranean Press, for $12,500. To this day I have somehow failed to disclose this purchase to my wife... Insane money to an outsider for ten books; perfectly reasonable to a collector with the money to spend.

The expansion

Subterranean Press, it turned out, had most of my favourite authors sign their limited editions and commissioned talented artists to illustrate them. The combination of popular authors, scarcity, evocative art and quality materials opened up the rabbit hole, and it was a defining moment in my foray into the world of special books. Late in 2019 I subscribed to Jerad Walters' Centipede Press, and I am a subscriber to this day. The first book to arrive was the art portfolio of Don Punchatz, with his iconic cover illustration for Doom, rekindling some of my best '90s gaming memories. Jerad's choice of authors keeps expanding my own horizon, and his books are some of the best value money can buy.

Suntup Editions stormed onto the scene in 2018–2019, at the same time I was deep-diving into limited edition presses, and somehow I managed to get hold of their lettered edition of The Road, with its open Coptic binding and slate-covered boards.

With the Suntup books I developed a deeper interest in the paper used for printing, in relief printing and in elaborate bindings. Two books in particular highlighted this for me: The Bridges of Madison County and Red Dragon. The first was printed on Hahnemühle mouldmade paper; the latter was bound in embossed hornback ruby cowhide. It was the Hahnemühle paper especially that captivated me, and I started to see these books as pieces of art.

Another icon in the field, Rich Tong, released his first book, Stardust, in 2020. His name is synonymous with fine binding. Suntup opened my eyes to books as art, but Rich Tong's Lyra's Books made me see the craft and passion that go into fine bookbinding. I still look forward to his new releases and recently managed to secure my lettered Carmilla.

This post would not be complete without St James Park Press, which I found through my recurring research into special papers and relief printing. James Freemantle was the first to pique my interest in text printed from hand-set metal type and the creative freedom it offers. I was lucky to contact him in the early days and to have his King Arthur, Animal Farm and 1984 in my collection. 1984 especially is an inspiration, and a testament to what passion and patience for the perfect result can achieve.

Fast-forward a couple of years, and Anthony Kaye's Curious King, with A-list authors and spectacular choices of artists, and Tony Geer's Conversation Tree Press, with an uncanny feel for typographic detail and delicate binding designs, have entered the field. Between them they have made letterpress printing and thoughtful design the new norm.

As the years went by I accumulated many beautiful productions and got to know many awesome people in the collecting community. I found a collector soulmate in Tim, the most meticulous collector I know. His Centipede Press collection is second to only a few in the world, and his knowledge of the variant states of early CP books is second to none. We discovered that we value the same qualities in limited, fine and first editions. I asked his help in starting the Collectible Book Vault, to share his Centipede Press knowledge through a website, and he enthusiastically agreed. This led to many conversations about books we owned, books we were chasing, books we'd like to see and books we'd like to see made. Inevitably we ended up in the "What if we made it ourselves?" conversation, and discovered a shared desire to make that dream a reality.

Thus Oculi Fine Editions was born.