Colin Larkin (writer) - Art and Publishing

Art and Publishing

Larkin began his working life in commercial art, advertising design groups and for the book publisher Pearson Longmans. In 1967 he began writing for music journals and magazines. At Longmans he became senior book designer, but he soon tired of working for the publishing house and by 1976 had co-founded his own book publishing company, Scorpion Publishing.

From the outset Larkin was intent upon reaching areas of the book reading public that other publishers felt it unnecessary or unprofitable to reach. Scorpion Publishing published art books on Oriental carpets and Islamic Art. They also designed and published John Gorman's trilogy of Labour history, Banner Bright, To Build Jerusalem and Images of Labour. Notable music titles at this time included Timeless Flight: The Definitive Story of The Byrds and Bob Dylan’s Unreleased Recordings.

In the 1980s Larkin, who read music magazines avidly and was acquiring a considerable personal library of singles and albums, began to consider the idea of "an encyclopedia of popular music". His passion for an encyclopaedia that would do for Bob Dylan and the Beatles what the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians had done for more classical subjects, and moreover do it better, finally took over when in 1989 he sold his half of Scorpion Books to fund the project and founded Square One Books.