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From Flock Beds to Professionalism:
a history of index-makers



Preface by David Crystal
Presents brief biographies of
65 index-makers since the 15th century
Outlines the history of indexing groups and societies to 1995
Hardcover with dust jacket
6 x 9 inches, 340 pages
ISBN 978-0-9552503-4-7
£35.00

co-published by HKB Press in the UK
and Oak Knoll Press in the US

Hazel K. Bell is the doyenne of indexers. Her clearly-written and informative From Flock Beds to Professionalisrn is an extensive account of her profession. ... This important book concludes with ... an extensive index, which should provide a model to us all. - Year's Work in English Studies

It is difficult to express the breadth of this book. ... Hazel Bell has embraced the profession of indexing and made it visible and entertaining. - LOGOS

You will be amazed at the wealth of fascinating information contained within this beautifully written and produced book. - The Indexer

For anyone interested in the development of professions associated with publishing, it is a useful compendium of information in convenient book form. - Society of Freelance Editors and Proofreaders

... a wonderful paean to the profession ... a treasure trove of information about indexers and their habits. - Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada

Read and enjoy - you will be amazed at the wealth of fascinating information contained within this beautifully written and produced book. - The Indexer

It is difficult to express the breadth of this book. .. Hazel Bell has embraced the profession of indexing and made it visible and entertaining. - LOGOS

The volume is filled with such delightful records ... although each entry is painstakingly compiled, this book can be dipped into with something approaching ludic delight. - Libraries & the Cultural Record

Bell offers some entertaining anecdotage. - Times Literary Supplement

I found this inspiring and humorous book a delightful read about the roots of indexing and the threads of continuity that follow us into the 21st century. - Key Words (American Society of Indexers)

I have to strongly recommend this book for anyone wanting to immerse themselves in the history of our shared profession. - Bulletin of the Indexing Society of Canada/ Société canadienne d'indexation Volume 31, Number 1, Spring 2009

 

Indexing in the '60s, ff
DVD
A presentation for the conference of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexers,
"The Practice of Indexing", Sydney, Australia, 15-17 October 2009
Filmed by Aidan Bell in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England, July 2009
Available in PAL or NTSC. 41 minutes.
GBP 8.00; EUR 12.00; USD 16.00; CAD 17.00; AUD 18.00; ZAR 120.00
all including postage
Includes free copy of CD of the song, "The Indexer's Lament"



Hazel Bell recounts her experiences as an indexer from the 1960s, on the Council of the Society of Indexers from 1978 to 1995, and editing The Indexer during that period: three decades of the history of societies of indexers, illustrated with photographs and documents.

... a charming look at how indexing and journal editing has changed over the last forty years. While of most interest to book history buffs, including indexers, those interested in the history of professional organizations and their publications will also enjoy this presentation. - Key Words (American Society of Indexers) / Vol. 18, No. 2 April - June 2010

 

A Stage Mother's Story -- We're not all Mrs Worthingtons!
by Hazel K. Bell
Published 21 August 2006
Price £10.00 paperback
92 pages
(includes free CD of Aidan singing 8 of his own songs)
ISBN 0-9552503-1-5 / 978-0-9552503-1-6

The story of how a son on his way to a musical theatre career --
-- takes over the family garage as a children's theatre
-- fills the house with recording equipment and touring actors in sleeping bags
-- casts a production of The Rocky Horror Show from home
-- tours the Continent in the rock musical, Hair
-- settles as an impresaro in Vienna
while his mother was compiling indexes, writing books and articles and editing learned journals.

... very entertaining and informative ... a lovely little package.
-- Tregolwyn Book Reviews

... the utterly delightful story ... a fascinating and quite unique insight into the life of a young actor ...
disarming and charming reminiscence. ... A perfect Christmas gift for any actor or parent of an actor.
-- Amateur Stage, November 2006

 

Kay Macaulife: Women take the stage

edited by Hazel K. Bell
2003; £4.00
32 pages
ISBN 0-9543316-1-3
It provides an interesting picture of the interface between the amateur and professional stage immediately after the Second World War, with the list of her parts from 1947 to 1958 demonstrating the variety of shows staged by the companies she appeared with. As well as personal recollections of her performances, there are her own reminiscences of being a film extra, the recording of a play, appearing as a contestant in TV panel games, together with short extracts from her writing, much of which was tailored for women's groups.
- from Theatre Notebook Volume 60 Number 1, 2006

As a writer, her style showed a keen observational eye . Had she been born fifty years later, Kay Macaulife ... might well have become another Lynda La Plante. In the context of her time, she created for herself a pretty full life, ending it with a list of achievements that most of her contemporaries would have been proud to boast.
- from Tregolwyn Book Reviews

 

The Open Cage: Not Hearing but Living
nhbl

The memoirs of a profoundly deaf woman born in the Edwardian era

by Phoebe Raddings

This is a classic of its kind. From page one, I was enchanted, and read on with the same fascination as might have been aroused by the autobiography of any household name. Phoebe Raddings was clearly an exceptional person, barely aware that she had lived an exceptional life, one that could serve as an example and inspiration to anyone fortunate enough to read about it.- Tregolwyn Book Reviews

What an enchanting and moving story ... a little classic of its own sort.
- Stephanie Beacham

A nostalgic insight into a fascinating century ... quintessentially English life ... an inspiring, humorous, insightful read ... immensely enjoyable.
- Isle of Wight County Press

Paperback 88 pages, with photographs
2009; £10.00
ISBN 978-0-9561443-1-7

 

Aged thirteen in Felpham -- 1949

by Hazel K. Macaulife
2003; £5.00
12 pages
ISBN 0-9543316-2-1

a selection of entries from Hazel's 1949 diary ... represent a valuable historical document as well as being entertaining to read.
- Tregolwyn Book Reviews

--Society of Indexers' Newsletter Spring 2007
A fascinating read for those interested in social history and English life.

 

At Chi High 1949-1951

by Hazel K. Macaulife
2006; £4.00
16 pages
ISBN 0-9552503-0-7

... a valuable social document ... if you thought Angela Brazil just made it all up, think again!
- Tregolwyn Book Reviews

 

Diary of a Reading University Student

by Hazel K. Macaulife
2007; £3.00
8 pages
ISBN 978-0-9552503-5-4

It is another valuable record of English social history in the mid-twentieth
century.
- Society of Indexers' Newsletter No. 3, Autumn 2007

 

Say It With Flowers and other sketches

by Hazel K. Bell
2006; £4.00
24 pages
ISBN 0-9552503-3-1
..........978-0-9552503-3-0

... a book of sketches, nine in total, all of them amusing and all of them very short ...
- Tregolwyn Book Reviews

 

No Soft Incense: Barbara Pym and the Church

(with the Barbara Pym Society)
edited by Hazel K. Bell
2004; £8.00
115 pages
ISBN 0-9543316-6-4
http://www.barbara-pym.org/nosoftincense.html

... the entertaining and often learned contributors to this symposium ... This book is essential reading for Pym fans.
-- The Tablet, 21 May 2005

All lovers of the novels of Barbara Pym will want it on their bookshelf. ...helpful and enlightening
-- Green Leaves: The Journal of the Barbara Pym Society,May 2004

This volume is a happy dipping book for fans.
-- The New Criterion, May 2005

... detailed and intensively-researched articles ... it is difficult to read any of these articles without laughing out loud at least once.
-- Tregolwyn Book Reviews

 

The Frederica indexes: Cumulative Indexes to A. S. Byatt's novels
The Virgin in the Garden / Still Life and Babel Tower / A Whistling Woman


By Hazel K. Bell
2007; £6.00
21 pages
ISBN 0-9552503-6-6 / 978-0-9552503-6-1