Thomas Macdermot

Started by Thomas MacDermot in 1903, the All Jamaican Library was Jamaica's first indigenous publishing house consisting of a series of short stories and novellas written by Jamaicans about Jamaica and reasonably priced in order to remain accessible. Ultimately he was only able to publish four works with two authored by himself-- Becka's Buckra Baby (1904) and One Brown Girl and 1/4 (1909)--comprising "The Story of Noel"; E.A. Dodds' Maroon Medicine (1905) and W.A. Campbell's Marguarite: A...See more

Started by Thomas MacDermot in 1903, the All Jamaican Library was Jamaica's first indigenous publishing house consisting of a series of short stories and novellas written by Jamaicans about Jamaica and reasonably priced in order to remain accessible. Ultimately he was only able to publish four works with two authored by himself-- Becka's Buckra Baby (1904) and One Brown Girl and 1/4 (1909)--comprising "The Story of Noel"; E.A. Dodds' Maroon Medicine (1905) and W.A. Campbell's Marguarite: A Story of the Earthquake (1907). While short lived, the All Jamaican Library features the first collection of short stories by a Caribbean writer and marked the beginning of modern Caribbean writing as it is known today. See less