HEDGE PRESS

The acerbic Irish satirist Jonathan Swift (author of Gulliver's Travels) coined the term hedge- press (in the above passage) on the model of hedge priest, hedge lawyer, hedge marriage, hedge bird [poacher]-all roles or activities conducted in unofficial and clandestine ways, as if by the roadside, under the hedge. He was referring to an Englishman newly come to Ireland who-although with no more skills than a proof- reader-proceeded to become an influential politician, on the strength of the undue veneration in which Irish people held the English. Hedge- writer was also coined by Swift-and he mentioned having hedge- wine at a hedge- inn. He was altogether much enamoured of the epithet hedge, as were the early- moderns in general... True to Swift's meaning, we are a very small independent publishing company, run on a shoestring with a minimum of expertise. Our hedge- writers have several books in the pipeline, some of which will be slow to emerge at the other end. The subjects of most..

Also known as: The Hedge Press

Primary location: Wood Green United Kingdom