Martin P. O. Davies

Below is a brief description of my career with particular attention to Ibiza, as I wish to propose a change to the headword 'Pityusic Islands' (Ibiza being the main island in this archipelago), replacing it with 'Pityusan Islands'. The information below should provide an idea of my decades-long engagement with both Ibizan culture/history and correct English usage. It concludes with a list of Barbary Press titles (2000–2021), all edited and many co-written by myself, for which further details and pictures can be found at the websites www.liveibiza.com and www.ibizahistoryculture.com.

Martin P. O. Davies was born in Liverpool in 1961 and spent much of his childhood in Fiji and South America. After studying history at Oxford University and librarianship at Newcastle Polytechnic, he worked at the National Art Library (Victoria and Albert Museum), where he completed his first book, "Romanesque Architecture: A Bibliography" (1993). He moved permanently to Ibiza in 1993, teaching English and exploring the island’s rural heritage. His close association with Rolph Blakstad and members of the TEHP group (Taller d’Estudis de l’Hàbitat Pitiús) led in turn to his own full-length book about Ibizan farmhouses (1997), currently undergoing a final revision. Since setting up Barbary Press in 2000 writing and translating have gone hand-in-hand with publishing, resulting in ten popular titles spanning Pityusan photography, travel/memoir, historical fiction, archaeology, architecture, history, birdlife and early tourism, plus an illustrated children’s tale. Over the past fifteen years he has contributed two hundred articles on local history and culture to various publications and websites, including the Enciclopèdia d’Eivissa i Formentera, Secret Walks Ibiza North/South, Arquitectura y espacio rural en Ibiza, Ibiza Updated, Pacha magazine, Liveibiza.com (‘Bibliomaniac’s Corner’ series), Quadern del TEHP, Ibiza 365, IbizaNOW, Galería El Mensajero, 1976 a 1989, Ibicasa and Fites. His translations include Dutch Writers and Painters in the Pityuses (2002), The Road to San Vicente (2007, both with Björn Lindholm) and A Taste of Ibiza & Formentera: Traditional Island Recipes (2008). He has co-curated two notable exhibitions, Sarah Nechamkin, paisatges i ocells (Museu Puget, 2013) and S’ànima des Amunts (Ses Arcades, Sant Joan, 2021), profiling the matanza (pig-killing) scenes shot by Gustav von Estorff in San Vicente (1933). In 2017–18 he collaborated with the Franco-German TV channel Arte on two documentaries about Walter Benjamin and Albert Camus in Ibiza, and over the past seventeen years has given talks for the Universitat de les Illes Balears (2004/2008), the Ibiza Preservation Fund (2011), Maya Boyd’s ‘Ibiza Insights’ series (2016), Antoni Ferrer Abárzuza’s ‘Cicle de conferències 2-4-20’ (2016), Sara Kult-Smith’s ‘Ibiza Quills’ (2018–19, 5 talks), and Uri Fruchtmann/Can Kibutz’s ‘Ibiza’s Rural Heritage’ series (2021, 2 talks). Many of these lectures have thrown new light on Ibiza’s most riddling (and mythologised) topics, including its Jewish heritage, emblematic springs, Elmyr de Hory and the perennial mystery of Tanit. In recent years he has contributed to three local podcast forums, namely Will Beacham’s ‘Ibizology’ (3 interviews), Joanna Hruby’s ‘The Wells of Tanit’, and Jo Yule’s ‘Reset Rebel’. Martin P. O. Davies (talk) 12:32, 2 January 2022 (UTC)

BARBARY PRESS PUBLICATIONS

1. Martin Davies with Philippe Derville, "Eivissa-Ibiza: A Hundred Years of Light and Shade" (2000, 2nd ed. 2007, bios/captions in three languages, introductions in five languages) ISBNs 978-84-605-9497-1 (1st ed.) and 9788461102371 (2nd ed.)

2. Martin Davies, "Eivissa-Ibiza: Island Out of Time" (2005, texts in three languages, introductions in seven languages) ISBN 9788460940950

3. Sarah Nechamkin and Martin Davies, "Birds of Ibiza = Nuestras Aves" (2006, 2nd ed. 2013, bilingual text) ISBN 9788461124006

4. Leif Borthen, "The Road to San Vicente" (2007). Also in Spanish, German and Catalan (2010) editions. ISBNs 9788461181193 English, 9788461181216 German, 9788461181247 Spanish, 9788461343560 Catalan

5. Alexis Brown (pseud. of Amy Baumann), "A Valley Wide" (2008). Also in a Spanish edition "Crepúsculos sobre Sa Cala". ISBN 9788461229062, 9788461229093 Spanish

6. Paul R. Davis, "Ibiza & Formentera’s Heritage: A Non-Clubber’s Guide" (2009, 2nd ed. 2014). Also in Spanish and Catalan editions ISBNs 978846122908 English, 9788461229079 Spanish, 9788461330515 Catalan

7. Martin Davies, "Ibiza’s First Hotels, 1933–1958" (2010, bilingual text). Desk calendar of vintage luggage labels with hotel histories in booklet

8. Maria Jansen with Martin Davies, "The Adventures of Pepita" (2012). Also in Spanish and Catalan-English (i.e. bilingual) editions. ISBN 9788461575636 English, 9788461576861 Spanish, .978846157687X Cat-Eng

9. Ben Dunwell, "Pine Tree Island: A Novel from Ibiza’s Dawn" (2021) ISBN 9788409343683 English. Also in a Spanish edition, "Isla de Pinos: Una novela sobre los albores de Ibiza" ISBN 9788409345663 Spanish