Please note: Oak Knoll Press is unfortunately not accepting new manuscripts at this time.

 

EDITORIAL BOARD:

Our Editorial Board includes prominent men and women who are experts in various aspects of book culture, who have themselves published books and articles related to our areas of specialization. Each proposal for a new book will be reviewed by selected Board Members, and every manuscript submitted will be peer reviewed by at least one Board Member and/or an outside expert as deemed advisable by the Board. Manuscripts receiving an unfavorable review or are otherwise judged to be lacking in scholarship will be rejected. For those that are accepted, we will work with the author to edit and design the work to make the published book as useful, informative and attractive as possible.

 

Board Members:

Nicholas Basbanes (author, lecturer on books and book culture)

Mark Batty (former publisher)

Mark Samuels Lasner (Senior Research Fellow, University of Delaware)

David McKitterick (former Librarian, Trinity College, Cambridge)

Marcia Reed (Chief Curator, The Getty Research Institute)

Joseph Rosenblum (author; professor, University of North Carolina)

Alice Schreyer (Vice President, Collections and Library Services, Newberry Library; RBS Faculty member)

Sydney Shep (Reader in Book History, Victoria University of Wellington; Director, Wai-te-ata Press)

Joel Silver (Director, Lilly Library, Indiana University; RBS Faculty member)

Margaret Stetz (professor, University of Delaware)

Jan Storm van Leeuwen (former keeper of bookbindings, Royal Library, The Hague; RBS Faculty member)

David Way (former publisher, The British Library)

Rob Fleck, Antiquarian Director

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Dear Prospective Author:

As a publisher of important scholarly books, our mission is to preserve the art, lore, and wisdom of the printed word. We are publishers of books about books: histories of printing, illustration, marbling, typography, bookbinding, and papermaking, as well as bibliographies and books about publishers, book collecting, and book selling. In these fields, we publish new and original works from authors around the world, and we update and reprint classics of the past. We are committed to issuing books written by experts in their subject areas, designed by leading typographers, and printed by industry professionals to the highest standards. 

Oak Knoll Press has co-published important books with the publishing arms of the Bodleian Library, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Library, the Library of Congress, Winterthur Museum, The Tate Gallery, and  other distinguished publishers, libraries, and research institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Canada.

To maintain these goals and reach out to authors who have the expertise and/or experience to write the books needed, we have created a want list. If you have the ability to write an interesting, compelling, and publishable manuscript on any of the listed subjects, we would like to hear from you. Your proposal will be read within two months of arrival by one of our editors and, if it should merit our interest and fall within our realm of publishing, you will be contacted promptly. Your proposal or manuscript may also be reviewed by a member of our Editorial Board with expertise in your subject area.

Sincerely,

Oak Knoll Books & Press
publishing@oakknoll.com

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INQUIRY GUIDE:

For us to make a fair evaluation of your proposal, you should address four important elements:

1. A clear, clean manuscript or detailed outline with abstract and sample chapter: If a draft manuscript has been completed, please send a PDF or printout for us to review (see Manuscript Preparation Guidelines below.) If the work has not yet been written, send us an email enquiry. Sometimes our editors can express interest from an outline or abstract along with a sample chapter, or even from sufficient previous work. This will help us ascertain whether you have the ability to write an intelligent, compelling, and useful work within our field.

2. Is the work marketable? This is the most salient point for any publisher. In a paragraph or two, describe your book's intended audience and the size of that audience. How much of that audience is a waiting readership, and in what ways are you trying to draw new readers to your subject? 

3. What is your competition? Is your work unique, or are there other books available on the same or very similar subject matter? If there is or will soon be competition, why do you believe your book is needed? In what important ways does your work expand or improve on existing scholarship?

4. Author's qualifications. What are your qualifications (education, previous writing, training, experience, etc.) for writing the book you are proposing? You don’t have to be a “recognized expert” to research and write an interesting work, however, you should have the background to write authoritatively on your subject, as well as the commitment and skills necessary to complete a work that readers will recognize as an important addition to existing scholarship.

In short, your proposal should make us want to read the manuscript, and your manuscript should make us want to publish it.

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MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION GUIDELINES:

Oak Knoll's Editorial Style Guide: 
The Chicago Manual of Style

Format: Your manuscript may be submitted as electronic files (Word or PDF format) or as a hard copy printout, single-sided, on white paper. Do not bind the manuscript, as we may need to make photocopies. If your book is to be illustrated, your manuscript should be accompanied by a list of intended illustrations.Electronic files should be organized as described below. List the name of each file and a description of the contents on a separate file or piece of paper.

Page specifications: Your manuscript should include a table of contents, captions, lists, notes, bibliography, and all other elements. All pages containing text, notes and back matter should be consecutively numbered in a single sequence, beginning with the first page of the introduction or text proper. Preliminary pages (half title, title page, dedication, table of contents, acknowledgments, etc.) should be numbered with roman numerals. The manuscript should be single spaced with margins at least one inch all around on 8 1/2" x 11" paper. Chapter openings should begin at least three inches from the top of the page.

Electronic files: When submitting electronic files, all elements (front matter, chapters, back matter, etc.) should be saved in separate documents on the disk or thumb drive, with simple file names (for example: FM, Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, BM).

Text formatting: For all text, use a single basic font such as Times New Roman. Use italics and boldface only for appropriate elements in the text (italics for book or periodical titles, for example), following the Chicago Manual of Style. Indent block quotations. Avoid any unnecessary or unusual styling of text. Chapter titles and subheads should be in upper and lower case. Subheads of different levels should be differentiated by placement on the page (centered, indented, etc.). Make sure the titles of chapters in your table of contents agree with what appears on corresponding chapter openings. Illustrations to be placed in the text, if not referenced in the text itself, should be keyed in the margins.

Illustrations: All illustrations should be submitted as electronic files. We accept high-resolution photographs or scans of original materials. All files should be 300dpi or higher at sizes at least as large as the largest size they might appear in the book. We prefer to receive tiffs or maximum quality jpegs. Submit images as individual separate files; do not embed illustrations in text documents, except in files intended for preview or reference purposes only.

Notes: Use Arabic numbering for your notes. Group the notes together at the end of each chapter, but indicate in a memo to the editor if you intend footnotes or a notes section at the end of the main text rather than chapter endnotes. Make sure your note style is consistent. If the style is unusual or deviates from the Chicago Manual of Style, spell out those differences in a memo.