After seeing PEM’s Samuel McIntire: Carving an American Style and hearing from its author and his assistants of the positive working relationship with their editor and designer, I requested them to oversee what would become Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics. Beyond what I would have considered standard editing, Brian Hotchkiss has assured the reader that the spelling and dates were correct for myriad individuals and reference volumes covering a 500 year period. Peter Blaiwas designed the volume as a work of art to properly convey the individual works of art contained in the volume. Working with this team, on a complex volume covering China and many countries in Europe, their royals and nobles, their artists and merchants, subject matter from political and social history to religion and economics, to world trade, was a daunting prospect. But they made the project as enjoyable as any book production could be and the end results speak highly of the professionalism and high quality of their work. Peter, Brian, it’s been an immense pleasure. Thank you.
William R. Sargent
Peabody Essex Museum
Curator, Asian Export Ceramics (retired)
"Over the past three years, we have worked with Brian and Peter on three very different exhibition catalogues dealing with historical and contemporary aspects of art and culture: Inspired by China: Contemporary Studio Furniture Makers Look at Chinese Furniture; Samuel McIntire: Carving an American Style; and Wedded Bliss: The Marriage of Art and Ceremony. Consistently, Brian and Peter have partnered with us very succesfully, providing excellent editing, design, project management, and publication placement. To top it off, they are fun to work with!"
Lynda Roscoe Hartigan
The James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes Chief Curator
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
"Brian and Peter gave us impressive service. Everyone from Editor-in-Chief to editorial assistant went out of their way to be helpful and the whole process from concept to finished product was handled with intelligence and competence. Additionally, our book, Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American Business won a notable award for its design."
Jane Knowles
Acting Director
Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute
When we first began to plan for our sesquicentennial celebration, we knew we wanted to publish an illustrated history but didn't know where to begin. Peter and Brian guided us through the whole process: leading brainstorming sessions on campus, advising us on hiring a writer, carefully editing the book, and planning a beautiful layout for our book. The final result is exactly what we wanted: an illustrated history that tells the story of 150 years of UMass in an accessible and eye-catching manner. The response to the book has been overwhelmingly positive from our faculty, staff, students and alumni alike.
Nancy Buffone, Executive Director, External Relations and University Events
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Having now received a printed copy of UMass Rising in all its glory, I write to say how pleased I am by their excellent work. I read the book again cover-to-cover last night and came away quite impressed. It is a gracefully written narrative, effectively weaving together many different themes, and the design and illustrations serve the volume very well. Even the most controversial topics are handled with a deft touch. Of course inevitably some people are going to be disappointed that their stories or programs are not included, but it is no easy task to cover 150 years of history in fewer than 200 pages. So I tip my hat in appreciation of a job well done!”
Bruce Wilcox, Director, University of Massachusetts Press
(distributor of UMass Rising: The University of Massachusetts Amherst at 150)
"Thank you does not begin to express the appreciation I feel for your professionalism, expertise and customer service. Your wise counsel and attention to detail brought us from a Word document (that I had no idea what to do with) to a published book that is making us all proud. I know you were working under a very tight time frame to start but somehow you still got the books to us on the original 'promised by' date. Thank you, thank you, thank you! It was a pleasure working with you."
Claudia Bogris
Director of Marketing & Graphic Services
Montclair State University
"I have worked with Peter and Brian on numerous projects over half a dozen years or so. Even the most complex projects were handled with crisp efficiency and organization and delivered on time and within budget. It was wonderful to be able to hand these projects over to them with complete confidence, knowing not only that the job would get done, but also that it would get done beautifully."
Ann Twombly
Editorial Director
Northeastern University Press
Working with Vern Associates on Painting a Map of Mexico City was a joy—they were professional, responsive, efficient—the book went from contract to delivered volume in a swift eleven months, with no hitches on the way.
While much of this good work—the flawless copy-editing, the seamless index, the lucid presentation—is, and should be, imperceptible to most readers, what remains front and center is Peter Blaiwas's beautiful design for the book, which manages to be both classic and up-to-date. We worked with maps and manuscripts that are self-effacing; on the page, they don't deliver the knockout punch of an art masterpiece. But set in Peter's design, they are gems unearthed. How he effected this magical transformation, I don't know, but it speaks to his deep sensitivity to visual material of all kinds and his ability to use design to reveal the hidden beauty of the works themselves.
Barbara E. Mundy, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Art History
Fordham University
"We are thrilled with Safer, More Secure Lives, as every aspect of the book surpassed our highest expectations. From the very beginning to the finished product, Peter and Brian guided us through every step of the process. They brought the design, graphics, editing and publishing expertise we expected and needed for this project. More important, they carefully listened to our ideas, thoughts and opinions, and were able to translate our dreams into reality. We entrusted our 'corporate history' to them, and we're glad we did."
Dexter Legg
Vice President, Secretary & Chief of Staff to CEO
Liberty Mutual Group
Working with Peter and Brian on a new book is always a pleasure. The recent Lincoln Institute of Land Policy book Made for Walking: Density and Neighborhood Form, by Julie Campoli, presented both a particular challenge and a very successful result. More than 400 photographs, maps, and other figures are expertly interwoven with the author's essays and descriptive text on 12 walkable neighborhoods in US and Canadian cities. As always in my experience, Peter and Brian helped to create a stunning book that is already winning rave reviews. Thank you for being such great colleagues!
Ann LeRoyer
Director of Publications (emerita)
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Cambridge, MA
"They have been very helpful in editing of art catalogues for museums. I was especially grateful for their work on Tales from the Land of Dragons, where many ticklish editing decisions were handled with imagination and speed. They are easy to work with and their fees are reasonable."
Carl Zahn
Retired Director of Publications
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
"Collaborating with Brian and Peter is always a delight. Every aspect of a project is accomplished professionally and on time. They can be relied upon without reservation. They are unfailingly collegial, competent and adhere to the highest standards."
Philip Trager
Photographer and author of
Persephone, Dancers, and The Villas of Palladio
"Having worked in the publishing industry for over ten years, it was a great pleasure and huge relief to partner with Peter and Brian on our 50th anniversary book. They were quick to gain our trust by being honest, reliable, highly competent, and creative. Peter and Brian deftly managed our time and budget constraints to deliver a final product of the highest standard"
Amanda Pearson
Director of Publications
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
Harvard University
"[Peter and Brian] took a lot of the stress out of the process since I always felt that the material was in very good hands. I think the final product is doing what we hoped it would do—explaining what can be very technical information in a way that is accessible for most readers. It was truly an enriching experience from a process point of view and I think the final product reflects the collaborative nature of that process."
Nancy Joyce
Author of Building Stata and Project Manager for Stata Center
"Their work was critical in helping us edit, illustrate and publish our walking guide to Boston...in fact, not only did they walk us through the whole process, their wisdom, creativity, and good advice helped us make giant steps in the realization of our book."
Jane Grossman
Co-Author, Footnotes Boston