Happy Birthday Brian
04 Apr 2012
Today is the birthday of late Genesis founder, Brian
Roylance. Brian started the company in 1974, when he had the idea to reproduce
nautical logs in traditional, hand bound limited editions. Starting with Capt.
William Bligh's
THE LOG OF HMS BOUNTY, he went on to reproduce documents including Charles Darwin's
JOURNAL
OF A VOYAGE IN HMS BEAGLE, with a foreword
by Prince Charles, and James Cook's
JOURNAL OF HMS RESOLUTION
1772-1775, with a foreword by Earl
Mountbatten.
Brian felt that the Beatles' lyrics should be preserved in
the same way as these historical documents, and a chance meeting with their
publicist Derek Taylor would allow this dream to become reality. George
Harrison was impressed with the craftsmanship of Brian's books, and the two
went on to publish
I ME MINE in 1980.
The book changed the company's course from publishing
historical voyages to making rock history. A number of books with George and
other Beatles followed, and over 60 different signed music books have been made
to date. 30 years after
I ME MINE,
Jimmy Page published his
photographic autobiography on Brian's birthday in
2010.
The company's beginnings have not been forgotten, and
Genesis continue to revisit their roots with historical as well as musical
books. Our founder, father and
friend will also always be remembered.
