As of this week, my first two books, Franklin Booth: Painter with a Pen and Joseph Clement Coll: The Art of Adventure, are both sold out. The last few copies were purchased this week. I don’t have any plans to reprint them.
The Franklin Booth book was my first title. It still has a lot of meaning to me, as at the time, I never suspected its completion would lead to my becoming a publisher. I had the simple goal in mind of putting out a collection on an artist I remain passionate about. I started Flesk Publications as a means to self-publish my own title, but didn’t really have a plan beyond the single book.
With the release of Painter with a Pen in April 2002, and the immediate and encouraging reception it received, it didn’t take me long to begin researching material on Joseph Clement Coll. I knew Coll was one of the stellar pen and ink adventure artists from the early 1900’s. Doing a book on his work was an obvious choice. I didn’t spend much time, if any, debating who I would focus on next. With the help of Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr, Bud Plant, and Walt and Roger Reed at Illustration House, I didn’t foresee finding enough material to do two volumes. It just goes to show how quickly plans can change through the course of a project.
The Art of Adventure came out in the summer of 2003, following by A Legacy in Line in the summer of 2004. By the way, the paperback version of my second Coll book, A Legacy in Line, is sold out. The hardback is still available.
Thanks to everyone for making these three books a success. Your support has helped to produce our books on James Bama, Mark Schultz, Gary Gianni, Steve Rude, and William Stout!
John
John Fleskes
Flesk Publications