The Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775 pitted the British against the Americans, but Bunker Hill Publishing brings the two sides together. The brainchild of Carole Kitchel, managing director of BHP, and Australian packager Ib Bellew, BHP publisher, the house was founded last year in Charlestown, Mass., not far from the site of the actual conflict. The new house also has offices in Hawkhurst, Kent, England.
This month, Bunker Hill published its first book, appropriately enough a collection of war reporting. It's called War Stories: Reporting in the Time of Conflict from the Crimea to Iraq by former Random House president and publisher Harold Evans. It accompanies an exhibit curated by Evans for the Newseum (www.newseum.org/warstories), a decade-old news museum that is closed temporarily until it can relocate from Arlington, Va., to Washington, D.C., in 2006.
War Stories speaks to Bunker Hill's overall publishing strategy, starting with its 6"×6" hardcover format, suitable for both the gift and book markets. Kitchel projects 24 to 32 of these small-format books a year. But the house is also publishing Ice Island: The Expedition to Antarctica's Largest Iceberg (Oct.) by Gregory S. Stone, photography by Wes Skiles, in a larger coffee-table format. "If things come our way, I don't want to hold them to the small format size," said Kitchel.
BHP is also looking for partnerships with institutions—the Evans book arose out of a museum partnership, and Ice Island came from the New England Aquarium. "Basically, we sign agreements with the museums as authors," said Kitchel, who noted that the house also benefits from institutions with strong public relations departments.
Bunker Hill has teamed up with the World Monuments Fund for a book on The Chinese Palace at Oranienbaum: Catherine the Great's Private Passion (Sept.) by Will Black. It's also partnered with the National Gallery in London for a Disney guide to art appreciation for kids called Looking at Paintings (Sept.). The ongoing partnership with the Newseum has produced the upcoming Every Four Years by Doris Kearns Goodwin, as well as new projects with the Library of Congress and the National Trust.
For now, Kitchel and Bellew divide their time between the U.S. and England and run Bunker Hill with the help of freelancers on both sides of the Atlantic. "We wouldn't be able to do what we do without computers," says Kitchel. "We bring our publishing house on our laptops." U.S. distribution is provided by Client Distribution Services. In the coming months, Bunker Hill will expand its services and offer packaged books.
