Millwood Heritage Press UPDATE Monday 18th August 2008    (If anyone has any information, comments or questions, I'd love to hear from you. You can email me HERE). Its almost a month since the Montana Awards were presented and there has been a good deal of activity since, including in and around the book trade, the literary web sites and for me personally. I have received a huge response from family, friends and owners of the book who have travelled this Montana path with me. The Award has brought me many new opportunities - the media have been fabulous and generous, there are ongoing publishing opportunities and a great many speaking events. Today I will be talking to one of the Havelock North Probus groups; then on Tuesday I am guest speaker at the Women's Dinner Club in Hastings. On Thursday 21st, at a cocktail function at the Waipawa Library starting at 5.30, I will present an illustrated talk about the book. This is a public event celebrating Library Week and all are welcome. There are interesting webs sites to visit and blogs that you can just read, or post comments to, regarding the book, the Montana Awards and other literary fun! Mary McCallum author of "The Blue" - a fabulous first book of fiction, that I predicted would make it big time - can be read on: Mary's Blog. Mary also posted a summary of an interesting event held at the Wellington Museum City and Sea recently that had two of the Montana Judges speak about the Montana event and the process they had been through. Fascinating! Graham Beattie's wonderful Blog is always worth a visit and Graham has some Montana references there. His blog is updated daily - a must for anyone who loves books and reading about them and their authors. And a bit of literary political stuff thrown in from time to time! The Montana Awards are fully presented on the site: www.booksellers.co.nz and this includes a look at the Awards Ceremony with some photographs that can be accessed by clicking on "the finalists" . It's all good stuff and what will we all be doing after the Beijing saga is over and our evenings are free! My final recommendation is to visit the Havelock North Library Blog. Here you will find Montana, heritage and local history, books and much more. UPDATE - Monday July 22nd 2008 The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor has won the Montana New Zealand Biography Book Award 2008. This wonderful news was announced at the Montana Gala Dinner held at the Wellington Town Hall on 21 July. There were winners in each of a total of eight categories: fiction, poetry, and then six categories in the non-fiction: history, environment, life-style and contemporary culture, reference and anthology, and illustrative. There were 24 entries in the Biography category which the judges described as: “highly diverse in both subject matter and quality. A few were disappointing, but overall there was an abundance of genuinely good books that provoked some lively discussions among us.” The judges’ comments of The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor: “This is a big book in every way. Not only in its splendid example of the publishers’ craft, beautifully designed with copious photographs and architectural plans, but it is also a biography in the best possible sense. The author combines meticulous research with a warm understanding of the personality and character of her subject. Chapman-Taylor was a colourful individual as well as a notable architect, and Judy Siers’ book makes an important contribution to our cultural history.” UPDATE - Monday July 16th 2008 - NZ Listener article here UPDATE - Monday July 14th 2008 The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor has won Gold in the New Zealand Pride in Print Awards at the ceremony in May 2008. The award was presented to Grant Funnell of Keeling and Mundy, printer, Palmerston North at the ceremony in May 2008. This was in the "case bound book" category so praise must be accorded, also to Keith Crawley and Levin Bookbinding, Levin who produced a beautiful product with debossed titles on the cover and spine. Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2008 On 10 June the finalists for the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2008 were announced. The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor has been short listed and is one of three books in the Biography Category. This is hugely exciting as Montana is the most prestigious literary competition in New Zealand. The finalists will be announced on 21 July 2008. For a quick link to the Biography Section and details of the three finalist, click the following: www.booksellers.co.nz/mba_fin_bio.htm If you enlarge the image of the book on that screen you will be able to make a comment about the book on-line. The Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2008 is a wonderful way to promote New Zealand books. The publicity helps everyone in the book business, and in particular Millwood and Judy Siers with on-going book sales. Our reprint edition is printed and due to be distributed at the end of the month. The retail price has been held at $145.00. Contact us if you want further information: e-mail Judy.   The full details of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2008 can be read on the website: www.montananzbookawards.co.nz Millwood Heritage Productions News at June 2008 The Montana New Zealand Book Awards announcement follows our sales success and the sell out of our first edition of 1,500 copies of The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor. We have been over-whelmed with the fabulous response and the correspondence from readers who have enjoyed the work. This is so much appreciated, keep those letters coming! We know that sales will continue now that the reprint edition is due for circulation. A second book is now underway. This is a form of epilogue that could have been included in the first edition except for the size and scale of The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor - it was already a massive tome. The new book will be titled: Not All Of Me Shall Die and will present events that have occurred since James Chapman-Taylor’s death and tell the story of Rex Chapman-Taylor who worked with his father so closely, up until the 1940s, and then became a renowned furniture designer and maker. Also, it will include Jack’s (Rex’s son) furniture career; and so the story of the three generations of Chapman-Taylors unfolds. The meaning of the words of the title - Not All Of Me Shall Die - will be explored, the spiritual aspect of James Chapman-Taylor. This quote was carved by Chapman-Taylor on the ingle nook beam in his Home Crafts building in Molesworth Street, Wellington. More about this second book will be put added to this website from time to time. It will be a much smaller book than The Life and Times of James Walter Chapman-Taylor. (You might be able to read this one in bed!). If you want to know more about it: e-mail Judy
The Life and Times of JAMES WALTER CHAPMAN-TAYLOR by Judy Siers Specifications: Large format, portrait style. Printed full colour throughout. 456 pages, fully illustrated with architectural plans, photographs, drawings, paintings and documents. Case bound with full colour dust jacket.       The Life and Times of James Chapman-Taylor is the biography of a remarkable man. He was born in London in 1878 and died in Lower Hutt, near Wellington, New Zealand in 1958. It is the story of a man who chose architecture, design and house and furniture construction for his career. While it is told from a personal perspective - there is a great deal of his family life included in this book - architecture has presented the milestones in his life. When Chapman-Taylor meets a new client - inspects a site and proposes a plan - I have examined the house design, followed the building process and finally looked at the house on completion. The 97 building commissions are individually titled, and included in the story. In a literary way they became stakes in the ground, a time to pause and examine these in detail. It is a chance for the reader to meet the clients, enter the house and as well, slowly get to know the workings of the mind, and appreciate the skills of James Chapman-Taylor. Later in his life Chapman-Taylor became a professional photographer and I have drawn on his wonderful images plus his house plans, where ever possible to illustrate the book. Other aspects of his life include his Theosophical Society involvement, his Golden Dawn membership, his association and friendship with Dr Robert Felkin and his wife Harriot and astrology and the creation of astrological charts. His spiritual life is an important part of the biography and the influences of the Arts and Craft Movement, John Ruskin, William Morris and English domestic architects of the period are examined. There are 51 chapters presented chronologically. Sample chapters can be viewed, click on the "Extracts" menu item, to the left. Thank you for visiting this home page, I hope you will take the opportunity to enjoy other features of this site. Judy Siers.   Available at NZ145 plus packaging and courier delivery, $NZ15 = $NZ160.   This Millwood logo has been our logo for nearly half a century. It was designed when the business was based in Ngaio, Wellington, and depicts the Siers family home, Chew Cottage. The name was chosen, also for Millwood Gallery that the Siers established at 291 Tinakori Road, Thorndon, Wellington in the 1980s. This still exists today, much as originally conceived, and is owned and managed by Murray Pillar. 'Millwood' was the name given to the property purchased by John and Esther Chew in 1858. This was in recognition of the once forested surrounding hills and the Kaiwharawhara saw mill in the adjoining river valley. It is a heritage logo of personal significance and a tribute to Wellington’s history.