The New Arcadian Journal
“The feisty, visually distinctive and intellectually robust New Arcadian Journal … is refreshingly original” (TLS). “The New Arcadian Journals have been teaching us pleasantly provocative lessons for many years” (Country Life). The NAJ is the unique fine press book that combines art and scholarship. It is a treasury of drawing as artists join writers to explore the landscape garden. In particular, the NAJ:-
- Investigates the cultural politics of historical landscapes through engaging with the vestigial presences of architecture, gardens, monuments, sculpture and inscriptions.
- Explores the resonance of garden works by contemporary artists such as Derek Jarman and James Pierce, and especially Ian Hamilton Finlay at Little Sparta and elsewhere.
- Revels in the poetics of place and the breezy terrain of the upland walker.
Current edition: NAJ 79/80 (2024), The Georgian Landscape of Wentworth Castle, 3rd edition. See below for six other publications relating to the Yorkshire Wentworths.
The penultimate edition, NAJ 81/82, Virtuous Landscapes, is in preparation. It will mark the centenary of Ian Hamilton Finlay, 1925-2006, and include the proposals for both the cancelled Parisian gardens. These were commissioned by the French government to commemorate the Bicentenary of the French Revolution. They were cancelled in 1988 following a smear campaign against Finlay waged in the media by elements within the Parisian art world.
This website is the most economic place to collect New Arcadian Journals and other publications from the New Arcadian Press. NB. NAJs are discounted at book fairs.
- Back Issues. NAJs range in price from £15 to £25 UK inc mailing, and £20 to £30 Airmail. For details, see Portfolio & Shop above. To order by email, see Contact Us.
- PDFs available. See which out-of-print titles are available (half price and no mailing charge).
- See Reviews and Bibliography for some of the published appreciations and commentaries. For an original perspective, see Karyn Hinkle’s article ‘On Publishing Scholarly Journals as Artists’ Books: Yorkshire’s New Arcadian Journal‘ (2020).
Still available / Other publications
- The Yorkshire Wentworths: Wentworth Castle and Wentworth Woodhouse. Three books available as PDFs: see Wentworth Castle and Georgian Political Gardening, and Lord Raby at Berlin, The Hague and Wentworth Castle, and The Yorkshire Red Books of Humphry Repton. Four NAJs remain in print: NAJ 69/70, The Blackamoor, and NAJ 71/72, Rockingham Whig Landscapes, NAJ 73/74, Georgian Wentworth Woodhouse 2nd edn, and Georgian Wentworth Castle 3rd edn.
- The Ian Hamilton Finlay Collection: For the latest, see NAJ 77/78, Atlantic Flowers, realised through the generous permissions granted by the Ian Hamilton Finlay Estate. Since 1981 the New Arcadian Press has published many works by or relating to Finlay. Many are still available ~ 6 NAJs, 11 Broadsheets, 1 small book and 5 cards ~ as a set (£315, excluding postage), or individually.
- See the 70 Broadsheets (1981-2011) as well as the Books, Cards, Posters and Ephemera.
Lectures/Articles by Dr Patrick Eyres: radio, youtube, websites
In Memoriam
Grahame Jones, 1952-2020, Ian Gardner, 1944-2019, Chris Broughton, 1949-2015.
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