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A bibliography and short biography of J.L.Carr (1912 - 1994)
Joseph Lloyd Carr, a back-bedroom publisher of large maps and small books who, in old age, unexpectedly wrote six novels which, although highly thought of by a small band of supporters and by himself, were properly disregarded by the Literary World.
(A dictionary definition of himself, from an interview with Helen Simpson published in Vogue in May 1986, before he had published his last two novels)
These webpages provide details of all known editions or impressions of the novels of J.L. Carr printed in English in his life time and all the small books, illustrated maps and cards that he published from his house in Kettering between 1964 and 1994. I have also listed anything else I can find written by or about Carr. There is nothing official about these pages, it's just an attempt to bring the work of J.L. Carr to wider attention and help collectors to identify their books or maps.
There are omissions, as I may not have seen all impressions of the small books and maps, and there are probably errors too, as determining the order of publication is a matter of educated guesswork; most small books are not dated and few are numbered. You can find the basis of estimating which edition or impression came first in a section on dating Carr's small books. This site does not include editions of novels, small books or maps published since Carr's death in 1994, except for the small commemorative book.
J.L. Carr in 1992, taken by Drew Gardner. Used with permission.
Update on 11/8/2023: Added the 6th impression of the poems of John Clare, printed on grey paper, would you believe it.
Update on 27/7/2023: Added a link on the Radio and TV page to a recording on YouTube of the Booker prize award ceremony in 1985 which contains a short description by Carr of The Battle of Pollock's Crossing and a discussion of the book with John Carey, Germain Greer and Paul Theroux. Carr at: 1:16, 6:36 and 33:25.
Update on 22/9/2023: Added a lovely children's story contributed to a book of resource material for Primary school assemblies.
Update on 5/12/2023: Uploaded to YouTube the digitised VHS video tape of Annie Dalton's interview with J.L. Carr in the 'Writers in the Region' series.
.The main part of this bibliography describes and provides illustrations of:
The novels written by J.L. Carr
All editions and impressions published in English of his eight novels, issued during his life time.
Children's language text books
The eight stories written to help teach the English language to young children.
This section is for Carr's social history of the life of the first Europeans who settled on the plains of South Dakota, which is also listed under Histories, below.
A total of 102 titles of small books and four rare items published by Carr from his house in Kettering have been identified which are listed in the seven sections below, classified by type and coded, in all known editions and impressions:
- Dictionaries compiled by Carr or others.
- Poetry, the work of 60, mostly British, poets.
- Text by 11 writers and five other books, mostly text.
- Picture books, Carr's celebration of engravings and woodcuts.
- Histories, including one of his own imprint.
- Inflamatory evangelical tracts, the title that Carr gave to these two small books.
- Other titles, not published or perhaps not found.
The order in which these books were published is hard to know: they are mostly not dated, while Carr applied a partial numbering system retrospectively, and gave the same number to several titles. Dating Carr's small books is discussed here.
Carr's house in Kettering, with a Quince Tree in the front garden.
Carr's illustrated maps
A total of 97 maps are known or suspected of England and Wales, Wales alone and of the 39 old counties of England, many in more than one edition, and there is a map of Beadle County, South Dakota. Eleven suspected maps have not been seen. A table of these maps can be found here.
Celebratory cards or sheets
These printed items are mostly related to churches and most are drawn and annotated by Carr. These are the most ephemeral of Carr's publications, and hardest to find.
Carr the artist
This section describes the monumental undertaking that Carr called The Northamptonshire Record and presents a few examples of his paintings, some published drawings, and some pictures of his stone carvings.
These pages give details of the writings of J.L.Carr in:
- Cricket yearbooks from the Midlands (1948-52) and Northamptonshire (1956-61), plus books about cricket.
- The Northants Campaigner, the biannual magazine of the local teachers' union that Carr edited from 1962-70.
- Contributions to books and collections.
- Articles published in magazines.
- Articles or letters published in newspapers.
- Reviews by Carr, many written for The Spectator magazine.
- Essays, short stories and other writings.
- Published poetry and verses
The next section provides information about biographies and articles about J.L. Carr or his books.
This section is incomplete as reviews of Carr's books are hard to find, especially of his early novels. Readers are requested to provide details and, if possible, a scan of the item.
- Biographies of J.L.Carr and biographies that mention him
- Articles about Carr in magazines
- Articles about Carr in newspapers
- Reviews of Carr's novels and small books
- Obituaries of J.L.Carr
- Literary criticism, dissertations or extracts of the works of J.L. Carr
- The full version of an article on Carr's dictionaries first published in
Slightly Foxed
, an excellent quarterly magazine about obscure books and forgotten writers.
This section provides bibliographic information.
This section gives information about common means to identify Carr's books (except for ISBNs) and lists them in various orders for those of you who are really keen.
- A table of small books by printer in the historical order in which he employed them to print his small books
- A table of small books by year of publication, mostly estimated or guessed (work in progress)
- A table of small books by the serial number given by Carr and printed in the small books
- A table of ISBNs assigned to maps and books, in ISBN order.
- A table of ISBNs assigned to maps and books, in date order.
- Images of the colophons used by Carr on his small books or maps.
This section shows some printed ephemera and gives details of interviews, films and radio dramatisations of Carr's novels.
- The printed ephemera includes order forms for books and the order of service at Carr's funeral.
- Six of Carr's novels have been dramatised
- Carr did a number of Radio and television broadcasts for the BBC which are included here out of interest.
- Carr was interviewed in 1988 for the Writers in the Region series which was recorded on video tape.
Biographical information
While developing this bibliography I have visited several archives where I have found information about Carr that may be interesting. You can find out more in these sections.
- Dudley Teachers Training College and The Eagle
- Carr the sportsman
- There is also a basic timeline of Carr's life, which gives the dates of events that I know about, mostly extracted from letters that he sent to relatives and friends that are now in public archives.
Christopher Fiddes
Carr comissioned Chris Fiddes to decorate many of his small books and other items.
A Biographical Companion to the Novels of J.L. Carr
I have nearly completed a Companion to the novels and other writings of J.L. Carr which identifies in nearly 900 alphabetically organised entries the events, people and places that he used in his novels, as they are largely biographical in nature. I hope to publish this soon, probably privately. Here is a sample entry entitled Barefoot Blonde.
The Quince Tree Press today
You can buy Carr's novels and some of his small books and maps through the web site of The Quince Tree Press. You will need to download, print, complete and send an order form with a cheque or pay using BACS. This is a direct link to the QTP order form. I don't get any commission by the way, I'm just happy to support a small independent publisher. You can find information about other sources of Carr's books, both small and large, on the novels page.
Acknowledgement
I thank Tim Dean for checking the pages on Carr's small books against his extensive collection, and for identifying errors.
Request for information
If you can add information, fill gaps or correct mistakes, please contact me. I will be pleased to acknowledge contributors.
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