In 1969 Aidan & Nancy Chambers started the Thimble Press in order to publish the journal Signal Approaches to Children’s Books. Signal appeared three times a year, unsupported by state/institutional subsidy or commercial advertising, and had contributors and subscribers the world over. Each issue collected articles about some of the many aspects of children’s literature: writing and illustrating, educational theory and practice, literary criticism and reviewing; bibliography, biography and personal memoirs; editing and publishing and bookselling; translating and translations and international cultural events; bookmaking and book collecting; social and literary history.