“Galley Beggar HQ” | Artist In Residence report

Sam Jordison in his office Photo Collage #WIP.jpeg

Galley Beggar was set up by Eloise Millar and Sam Jordison. They work in dedicated spaces with desks, etc. That’s Sam, above, pictured at his Mac.

But for much of the time they work on the sofa in the living room. The night before I visited the Galley Beggar HQ, in a residential street in Norwich, they sat on the floor stuffing new books into envelopes while watching House Of The Dragon.

Eloise Millar stuffing envelopes at Galley Beggar Low Res.jpg

This drawing shows Eloise sorting the envelopes. It’s a work in progress. When I’ve finished, the picture will also show Sam, tickling the tummy of Galley Beggar’s in-house labradoodle – and perhaps also another Elly, sitting on the sofa with her laptop.

The books in the envelopes were destined for subscribers, who pay a small monthly fee to receive early limited editions that may become collector’s items, because a substantial majority of books published by Galley Beggar have gone on to be shortlisted for literary prizes, and even won.

Galley Buddies (as the subscribers are known) also get their names printed inside the book, at the back.

While I was photographing the office, I told Sam what I remembered about something similar done by Alexander Pope, who had amazing success as a crowdfunder.

I think Sam may have been reading up about that on his computer when I took his photo.

To make the composite picture at the top of this page, I took lots of photos, from a number of different angles.

It’s important to me not to try to make the collage look exactly “right”. I am using this as a reference picture to make a drawing, and I don’t want to attempt photographic reality.

That’s part of the reason why I included two Sams. But also I just like the idea of showing a publisher a) working with a manuscript on paper and b) working on a computer.


I also made sketches while I was there – some on paper, some on my iPad. The “finished” picture(s) will probably contain elements of both. For now, here’s one picture, a detail from the larger pic at the top of this page, that may or may not be finished (not sure):

Sam Jordison (detail, looking at paper MS).jpg

Thank you for looking.

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