Voiced by Ellen Anne Chong
Way back in 2008, right about the time brick-and-mortar bookstores were falling to the mighty Amazon, I published A Happy Day under my Tish and Company banner. I spent about two years working on this project, and it was a ‘learn as you go’ process. I had a true adventure in publishing, as I was a novice when I set out to produce this high-quality limited edition book. The experience had its share of ups and downs.
It wasn’t my book, as I did not write it. I meticulously restored, revised, and revived it.
The one-of-a-kind original A Happy Day book is a compilation of original poems inked in hand calligraphy, each with an original pen-and-ink and watercolor illustration. It tells of a happy day in the life of my grandmother’s first child, my mother.
My Grandma, Louise Sheppa Lovett, wrote, inked, illustrated, and bound this little gem in a proper hard cover. If unstitched from the spine, each sheet would contain a drawing and a poem, right and left, and on its reverse side, the same.
Imagine sitting and doing this…there is no room for error. A botched letter with the crow quill pen on the final letter of the last line could ruin four pages of work. That didn’t happen. I was a child when I first discovered the original in a stack of family ephemera, and I was impressed. I realized even then how much skill and talent Grandma put into creating this book for her two-year-old daughter.
Louise was a CAL alumnus, artist, and educator. It was the 1920s, and she had a two-year-old and was most likely pregnant with my aunt when she hand-crafted this book. Eventually, I was compelled to restore, revive, and publish this extraordinary little treasure.
I’ll spare you the details of the trial-and-error process I used to bring this book to market, and save them for other posts. The design, production, and promotional elements add up to a long story that’s best told in small chunks. Not everyone reading this is interested in learning how I preserved every line grandma drew by using Photoshop…the hard way.
This short note is an introduction to A Happy Day. I invite you to check out the link below for a peek at what’s inside this book. Stay tuned for future posts that tell the tale of my trials, tribulations, and triumphs in publishing.
Thanks for reading, and may all your days be ‘happy days’!
Check out this vintage treasure here: A Happy Day
