Cheap Street
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Cheap Street Press was a small publishing company started up and operated by the husband-wife duo, George and Jan O'Nale, in Newcastle, VA. Cheap Street concentrated on publishing "forced-scarcity" or "artificially rare" books - signed, numbered limited edition books of Science Fiction and Fantasy works. Their books were renowed as excellent examples of the book-making arts, having been created with elegant, imported silks and bound in leathers with matching slipcases.
Their books were typically issued in editions of 50 to 200 copies, and sold for up to $250 each. They approached primarily only authors who they identified for excellence in writing quality.
George and Jan O'Nale were hermitic in their habits, living in a fairly unpopulated area in the Virginian countryside. They were eccentric and irascible, and were known to suddenly and arbitrarily fall into contention with individuals with which they came in contact.
In 2002, the O'Nales donated their collection of books and press materials to Tulane University, and then committed suicide in the spring of 2003, citing increasing health problems.
A sampling of books published by Cheap Street Press:
- The Girl Who Heard Dragons by Anne McCaffrey
- Red Noise by John Sladek
- At the Double Solstice by Gregory Benford
- Ervool by Fritz Leiber
- The Arimaspian Legacy by Gene Wolfe
- On Saint Hubert's Thing by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
- Flying Saucer Rock and Roll by Howard Waldrop
- Paperjack by Charles de Lint
- The Adventures of Cobble's Rune by Ursula LeGuin
- Torturing Mr. Amberwell by Thomas M. Disch
- Pamphlet: The Complete Twelve Hours of the Night by "William Ashbless" (William Ashbless is actually a penname for James P. Blaylock & Tim Powers.)
External links
- [Obituary article] on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America website
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