In 1959, William L. Bauhan purchased Richard R. Smith Inc., a Rindge-based publishing company founded in New York City in the 1930s. Bauhan ran R.R. Smith, first under its original name, then as Noone House, named for the family home across from Peterborough’s Noone Falls, and finally, after the Bauhans moved to neighboring Dublin, as William L. Bauhan Inc. After Bauhan’s death in 2006, local writer and editor Ian Aldrich shepherded the company through a transitional phase. Bauhan’s daughter, Sarah Bauhan, who worked with her father for years as a book designer and ultimately managed the company, reincorporated as Bauhan Publishing LLC in 2009. “With the proliferation of new media and Internet publish-on-demand services, this may seem an odd time to invest in a traditional book publishing business,” says Bauhan. “But we can offer something that the newcomers can’t: well-designed and well-edited books printed on high-quality paper with beautiful, eye-catching covers. It’s all about craftsmanship. Bauhan Publishing brings personal service, many years of experience, and the understanding that book publishing is an art as well as a business venture.”

Sarah Bauhan responded to the following questions:

How does the long history of your publishing house (since the 1930s!) inform how you work today?

My Dad bought the company in 1959, and I try to stay true to the list he published in his time—poetry, art, memoir, history - either by a New England author or about New England.

Keeping in mind your focus on traditional book publishing in such a digital era, how do you strive to maintain your values of incredible design, editing, and printing?

I think because we’ve stayed small, we’ve been able to maintain the quality of the work we produce. Typography, book design, paper, binding, etc. are really important in a time of mass production. We do some digital printing of our titles now, but we waited until the technology caught up, before we started printing digitally. Also depending on what we’re publishing, an art book or a poetry title, we choose the right materials to enhance the production of the book.

What do you believe makes your publishing house most unique?

The above - maintaining the quality of the production as well as making sure the books are something we’d like to see in the world.

What stories are you most interested in telling and representing?

I’m happy with our poetry titles, as it’s really part of the oral tradition, so every poem is a story. We started the May Sarton NH Poetry Prize in 2011 and it’s brought us so many wonderful poets from all over—and they are all telling stories through their poems.

Is there an event, publication, or any kind of change happening in the next year that you are particularly excited about and would like to share?

Any time a book comes out, it’s an event! There is one title I’m particularly excited about, but I can’t divulge the title or subject yet, so stay tuned!

Bauhan Publishing

sbauhan@bauhanpublishing.com

bauhanpublishing.com