Stories

Oak Tree Fine Press is a fundraising initiative sustained by a double passion: an urgent desire to do something for children left destitute by HIV/AIDS, and a fascination with beautiful books. Given that fine press publishing isn't usually a massive moneyspinner, it is hard to get a handle on this until you meet Bruce, who owns it and runs it from his home on the outskirts of Oxford.

Bruce is a workaholic. A South African businessman and a committed liberal, he sold his company fifteen years ago and for a decade worked closely with local children's shelters, managing various projects and developing fundraising programmes.

According to UNICEF figures, some 15 million children in Africa are either infected by HIV/AIDS or have lost one or both parents to the disease. Bruce's experience working with some of these children gave him an unforgettable insight into their struggles. When he finally emigrated to England with his wife, he was determined to continue his support.

Bruce & Nancy Bray. By Damian Halliwell.

In the course of his fundraising, Bruce had built up a relationship with John Coetzee, Nobel Laureate and double Booker Prize winner, who regularly signed books to be sold on behalf of the shelters. One day, while they were exploring ideas for fundraising, Coetzee suggested the possibility of publishing extract editions: brief limited edition books showcasing texts by the world's greatest living authors. On a purely practical level, he explained, copyright would be much easier to obtain.

On another level, there was the potential to make something unique out of these books, to turn them into something in which the fragmented text would represent the potential of Africa's most vulnerable children. Coetzee offered to contact a number of authors regarding the possibility of them contributing, and so the idea of The First Chapter Series was born.

Bruce says, “I came to Oak Tree Fine Press looking for rewarding work, and it has exceeded all expectations. It is the kind of job you want just so you can tell people about it. Certainly I appreciate the sense of being in contact with the world's greatest authors and artists.

Meeting Doris Lessing was, for me, tremendously exciting: standing on the first floor landing of her London home, her jumper raggedy and in holes, she looked strangely like one of my own aunts, perhaps because impatience, defiance and a complete disregard for personal appearance are family traits.  Each book contains a dedication to the child victims of Africa's AIDS crisis; the success of Oak Tree Fine Press is their success and I am very honoured to be a part of it.”