Issue 10 (also known as Volume 3 number 2) of the Ptolemaic Terrascope remains one of my very favourite issues. Everything about it was working at that time (April 1992) - artist and genius-in-residence R.M. "Cyke" Bancroft was firing on all cylinders; I'd finally discovered a typeface I was happy with so there was a clean, open-faced look about the mag (we changed typefaces at least twice a year back in those days); Nick Saloman found time to write some really insightful reviews and help out on interviewing people - and I found time to research and write feature articles rather than simply transcribing interviews. What's more, the cover, a in glorious shade of chocolate and cream reminiscent of the heyday of the Great Western Railway, somehow evoked exactly the English pastoral theme I wanted to capture at that time.
All that, and an amazing interview with a very beautiful, gracious and intelligent Shirley Collins undertaken for us by (amongst others) David Tibet of Current 93, which, even when reading it back now, still evokes feelings of awe and wonderment. The part where Shirley describes losing her voice still brings a lump to my throat.
Times have changed a great deal since 1991 and it's finally OK to admit to liking folk music again, in fact it's almost trendy (gasp!) - but at the time the Terrascope was one of the only magazines around publishing anything approaching this kind of thing. And dammit, I'm proud we were able to do it; and proudest of all of the interview that follows... (Phil McMullen, November 2009)
