Sessions of York went into administration last week, but book publishing and printing by the Sessions Book Trust will not be affected as it is a separate charity and not part of the stricken company.

The label printing company, which had a turnover of approximately £6 million per year and was believed to employ about a hundred employees, had been up for sale since June last year.
A statement from director Mark Sessions said: The worldwide recession has had a devastating effect on our sales. It has also caused the value of the pound to fall heavily against the euro, which has forced up paper prices by over thirty per cent. In a weak, highly competitive market, we have been unable to pass on all this enormous cost increase to our customers and the consequence has been that our margins have been squeezed to a level, which makes it impossible to continue trading. Furthermore the company carries the burden of a large deficit in a final salary pension scheme. We deeply regret the hardship that this will cause our employees and our creditors’.

The Sessions Book Trust’s publishing and printing will now be undertaken by Quacks Books of York. The company is run by Michael Sessions, who is a member of Kirkbymoorside Meeting. Quacks Books is based at a site in York where there have been printers since 1703.
Horst Meyer of Quacks Books said: ‘the handling, processing and distribution [for Sessions Book Trust] will continue seamlessly’. Upcoming titles include a book on Elfreda Vipont Foulds by Susan Hartshorne.