Making zines look good since 2005.
Café Royal Books is a UK-based independent publishing house run by Craig Atkinson. He started the project in 2005 to produce printed publications by artists he thinks are “doing something worth seeing.” I’d argue that Café Royal’s publications are what’s worth seeing, with their careful attention to aesthetic details and paper choice. These books certainly adhere to typical zine-budget production methods and format, yet possess a distinguished air that elevates the practice of zine-making to a new level.
That Cafe Royal specializes in short-run publications means many of the titles in its extensive catalog are no longer available for purchase in the shop. A tragedy? Maybe. Or maybe producing ephemeral editions makes these objects more desirable in their fleeting availability, and perhaps ultimately more valuable.
A favorite title is Atkinson’s own From Sometime Around Then Until Somewhere Around Now, a collection of photography diptychs exploring uncommon visual associations. Check it out.
