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Finding Aid to the Floating Island Publications Records, 1972-1998, bulk
1976-1997
BANC MSS 99/325
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Table of contents
Collection Title: Floating Island Publications records.
Date (inclusive): 1972-1998,
Date (bulk): bulk 1976-1997
Collection Number: BANC MSS 99/325
Creators :
Sykes, Michael
Extent:
Number of containers: 18 cartons, 13 oversize boxes
Linear feet: 35.75
Repository: The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: The Floating Island Publications Records document the works
published by this small press, which was located in Point Reyes Station, CA, from 1976-1996.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite
and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must
be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University
of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as
the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from
the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
[Identification of item], Floating Island Publications Records, BANC MSS 99/325, The
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
Two video recordings (VHS) of Robert Bly reading his Point Reyes Poems.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Chapbooks
Small presses--California
Poetry--California
Sykes, Michael
The Floating Island Publications Records were purchased by The Bancroft Library in
1999.
No additions are expected.
Arranged to the folder level.
Processed by Anastasia Karel and Rachel Gulbraa in 2009.
Michael Sykes awoke one morning in June 1975 with the idea to begin publishing an
occasional gathering of material and to call it Floating Island. He had given the idea some
consideration before, over the years 1969-1974, while he owned and operated a bookstore in
Point Reyes Station, CA. The main inspiration for the name Floating Island comes from the
geological fact that the ground on which Sykes stood, the Point Reyes Peninsula, is
"floating to the northwest at the dizzying rate of 2-4 inches per year, being an upthrust
eastern portion of the Pacific Plate which grinds horizontally against the American Plate
along the San Andreas fault."
The original concept was a quarterly magazine containing fiction, poetry, photography and
graphics, with a regional focus, but after the first issue in 1976, it gradually became an
occasional periodical. The succeeding issues appeared in 1977, 1980, and 1989. Meanwhile,
Sykes published approximately fifty titles under the imprint Floating Island Publications,
and helped other presses with typesetting and design under the name Archetype West. In 1995
he moved further inland, to Cedarville, CA, where he continues to operate as of this writing
(2009).
Scope and Content of Collection
The Floating Island Publications Records primarily consist of correspondence from writers
and artists and drafts of works published by Michael Sykes. Many of these writers and
artists are from West Marin County, CA, or the surrounding region.
Approximately half the collection is in oversize boxes; these materials are all related to
publications, and include artwork and proofs. The only business-related records are found in
Subseries 2.3, Funding, and do not offer a comprehensive view of the company. There is one
folder of personal material, although items that attest to Sykes's personality can be found
throughout the collection.