HANDS up those people who, when they visit someone’s house, check out what literature, if any, is available in the loo?

It might seem like a bit of a strange question to ask, but one Ryedale publishing company has made it their business to know all about it.

Bog Books Ltd is the brainchild of Ian Bowie and artist and designer Tim Burton, who came up with the idea when they met at a book fair in London.

“Ian contacted me and asked how would I like to illustrate the books, and I said I’d like it very much, so we arranged to meet in London in April this year,” said Tim, who lives in Pickering.

“Ian lives in Finland at the moment, although he is a north country boy, having lived in Yorkshire, and he was telling me about books he’d done in Finland, and how he wanted to develop the idea in England, with an illustration on one page and trivia on the other.

“I said that sounded like something you’d read on the loo, and the idea was born.”

The name was an easy option, says Tim, as it was inoffensive and fun, and they were amazed that it had not been taken already.

Tim put Ian in touch with Cheryl-ann Taylor and Gary Davies at Design Farm, based in Levisham, and it all moved very quickly from there, as the four, along with Tim’s wife, Sarah, set the business wheels in motion.

“The whole thing took off like clockwork as we all work very well together,” said Tim.

“Ian undertakes all the research and comes up with the anecdotes, and then I’ll interpret and illustrate them.”

Cheryl-ann and Gary have developed the website, where you can see sample pages of the book and its illustrations, find out more about the team, and much more, and Sarah deals with sales and the office.

The first Bog Book, Yorkshire Pudding ‘n’ All That Tripe, was released in October, and 10,000 of them were printed in Malton and kept in the ‘Bog Bunker’, “an undisclosed garage somewhere in Pickering”, laughs Tim.

The book is now selling like hot cakes around the area, with 1,000 being sold within the first three weeks of its release, and is available in outlets in Malton, Pickering, Kirkbymoorside, Helmsley and York, as well as from their website, www.bogbooksltd.co.uk Tim is delighted that Bog Books has taken off so well this year, and hopes that 2010 will be a big one for them, when more books will be produced and sold globally.

“Selling the amount of Yorkshire Pudding ‘n’ All That Tripe in such a short space of time is really good, and it’s definitely the most exciting project I’ve done,” said Tim.

“It was a great thing to test the first book on our home crowd, as everyone in Yorkshire has been very supportive and friendly.

“The formula will roll out, and our intention is to produce two, three or four books a year.

“The next one we’re thinking of doing is Meet The English, and then there will be one for Scotland, Wales… something that might appeal to the tourist to take home with them.

“It’s all such good fun,” he smiles.

Contained within Yorkshire Pudding ‘n’ All That Tripe, but also available as a standalone work in its own right, is an illustrated map of Yorkshire, which, Tim says, is taking off well.

“I’m able to adapt the map to personalise it as Yorkshire is so huge that we can’t include absolutely everywhere, and if it’s a corporate map, we can fit in a company’s name,” he said.

Bog Books supports the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, with a percentage of funds from the sale of each book going to the charity.

“One of our big intentions when we set up the company was that we wanted to do something good to give something back, and we eventually hope to set up a charitable foundation,” said Tim.

Tim has been a professional designer and illustrator for the past 20 years, and undertakes all sorts of other work, including greetings cards and wine labels for many of the large supermarkets, and for vineyards in France.

“I’ve designed labels for Co-op, Tesco, Morrisons, and the Co-op range, Village du Sud, for the last four years,” remarks Tim.

“I didn’t actually know that Morrisons had used my design until recently when someone emailed me to say they’d seen it featured in the Sunday Times.”

It’s evident when talking to Tim that he really enjoys his work.

“I love the variety, and not knowing what the next day is going to bring,” explains Tim.

“Each project is a constant learning curve.”

* The Bog Book team will be next appearing locally at Hovingham Christmas market on Saturday where they will be signing copies of Yorkshire Pudding ‘n’ All That Tripe.