HEADLAND 1970-1980.
A brief history of Headland magazine and its publications from 1970 to 1980
Cover design by Barbara Dawson
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Headland magazine was founded in 1969 by Gerald England. The first issue was published in January 1970. Details of the contents of each issue can be found on the Headland magazine page. It appeared quarterly for two years, after which the editorship of the magazine was passed to William Oxley. In due course he changed the name of the magazine to New Headland and then later merged it with the critical magazine Littack. The name Headland publications was retained by Gerald England. Several chapbooks were published by him and a full list is given below. Meanwhile Gerald edited a new periodical The Hallamshire & Osgoldcross Poetry Express. Consisting of a number of foolscap (later, A4) sheets, it published various articles, a few poems, brief reviews and promoted the chapbooks published by Headland publications. It was distributed freely through poetry organisations and with other small press magazines. Details of the contents of each issue can be found on The Hallamshire & Osgoldcross Poetry Express page. At the same time the press became the UK distributor for the Dustbooks Directory of Little Magazines and Small Presses. As the administrative work increased, Vivienne Finch joined as business partner. Further chapbooks were published, as well as a British only edition of the Dustbook's Directory. The Hallamshire & Osgoldcross Poetry Express continued to appear and a new magazine called Promontory was published. In 1975 Vivienne decided she wanted to do something different. Gerald England looked around for a new partner to share the work of running Headland publications. The person who turned up was Gladys Mary Coles, who was full of ideas. The freebie, The Hallamshire & Osgoldcross Poetry Express was dropped; the connection with Dustbooks was lost; Promontory was discontinued after issue #3. It was decided to publish a new magazine, similar in style to the original Headland and called New Hope. New Hope One came out in Spring 1978. The second issue was ready for publication in December 1978 and Gladys was supposed to oversee its production. After a few months I started getting letters from people asking if we were still publishing since they hadn't heard from us in recent months. I urged Gladys to publish the second issue, but her reply was that we hadn't yet sold all the copies of the first. Since we didn't seem to be advertising the magazine, that fact did not surprise me. In February 1980, New Hope Two appeared, still dated Summer 1979. Over the following months I started to get complaints about non-delivery of copies from contributors and even from subscribers who'd paid up front. My reputation was on the line. Gladys told me that we didn't have the money to send copies out — they were going out in dribs and drabs through the mail system at her husband's college! I discovered there was money in the bank account, but was told this was a grant from Merseyside Arts towards publication of a chapbook. This was a booklet of which I had no knowledge. Subsequent attempts to contact Gladys by phone or letter proved fruitless. She had hold of the purse strings and was acting independently without consulting me. In the end I felt there was no alternative but to start again and later that year I founded New Hope International. Gladys Mary Coles continues to publish under the imprint of Headland Publications. I will not criticise the literary quality of most of the work she has published — BUT ....A much fuller account of this period and of the first ten years of New Hope International can be found in Editor's Dilemma: 20 Years of Small Press Publishing. |
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Chapbooks published by Headland 1970-1980 |
All subsequent Headland publications are entirely the responsibility of Gladys Mary Coles. |