Books Are My Business: Rebeka Russell, founder, Manderley Press
Rebeka Russell, Manderley Press
Rebeka Russell is founder of Manderley Press, a London-based publishing house which aims to reintroduce forgotten titles to a new audience, giving them distinctive new covers, illustrations and introductions.
It previously reissued by Cork-born author Katherine Cecil Thurston, illustrated by Fatti Burke, and with an introduction by Megan Nolan.
A reissue of by Helene Hanff, with an introduction by Jean Hanff Korelitz, will be published in September.
I studied history at university, and I have always loved books and art. I tried a few things, then ended up doing a master's in art history, and absolutely loved it.
While I was doing that, I worked in a bookshop to support myself and it was just brilliant. After that, I worked for a start-up publishing company and then I got into museum publishing.
Later, I went to work for Thames and Hudson to try it from the trade side. Then we moved to Moscow for a bit for my husband’s work.
I ended up getting a job at the National Portrait Gallery, so we came back and I worked there until I had my daughter 14 years ago, when I went freelance.
I was working [on catalogues] for the V&A, the British Museum and other London galleries. Then in lockdown, the museums closed and that was it, the job was completely gone.
I’d had this idea of Manderley Press for a few years and I thought if I don’t do it now, I’ll never get around to it.
There are so many wonderful publishers out there doing amazing things, when I was casting around for a reason to have a publishing company, I needed something to make us stand out.
I love visiting old houses where people wrote books or painted or had epiphanies of some kind or another.
Manderley Press is about the link between amazing houses, buildings, places and cities and how they directly inspired the author and the book.
The name came about because I love Daphne Du Maurier, and her settings, and in the book , Manderley is like a character in itself.
I want to make books that last and that it is why I wanted them cloth-bound/quarter-bound. Obviously there are production costs associated with that design choice.
I do judge a book by its cover, there’s no getting around it. I spent a long time working with designers over the years to find the perfect formula for what will make something jump off the shelf into a reader’s hands.
It's got to be a great read, but it’s got to be something that brings joy as an object. I’m very lucky because Myfanwy, who is the designer I work with, has a brilliant eye, she completely gets what I’m trying to do.
I love being my own boss. I do like being part of a team and there’s a real thrill about working towards a goal collectively in a publishing company, but I love that I can get up in the morning and decide, ‘right today, I can do whatever I want’. That’s exciting.
A good example is that I made a wish list for people to read our new book, by Helene Hanff, including Tom Hanks, Sarah Jessica Parker, and so on — I was aiming high.
I emailed Tom Hanks’ agent and asked if I could send him a copy of the book. The agent replied and said Tom was going on holiday and if I could get a copy to him, he would take it with him.
Things like that make my job really exciting and sometimes terrifying. There's no day that’s exactly the same as the one that went before it.
I think it’s the self-motivation…. sometimes I get up and I just think there’s so much to do, I don’t really know where to start.
While it’s really exciting that I get to choose what I do, sometimes I feel a bit out of my depth.
So every now and again, when I feel overwhelmed, I reach out to other publishers or booksellers, it’s really good to chat to them.
Everyone I’ve talked to has been incredibly generous with their time, advice and support.
First of all, obviously, it’s going to be by Daphne du Maurier. I don't know how many times I’ve read it. I’ve got loads of editions and I love them all.
I’m also a massive fan of Stephen King. One of my favourite books of all time is which I would happily take away with me.
For the third, anything by Haruki Murakami. I’m always incensed when I read a review of his books in the paper because I feel like he wrote his books just for me.
