ORB features views and reviews from Olney, the home of John Newton’s Amazing Grace (1773) and of the poet William Cowper’s The Diverting History of John Gilpin (1782),
Alongside views and reviews from as far away as Bedford (12 miles to the east), the home of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), and Philadelphia (3,300 miles to the west), the home of the American Declaration of Independence (4th July, 1776), together with views and reviews of outer space, plus essays on contemporary culture, the market place, and the public square which is shaped by politics, law, education and faith.
There might be an assumption that a big city base fosters cosmopolitan as well as metropolitan views, whereas a small market town at the cusp of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire is, at its best, Arcadian. But there is no reason why ORB cannot have a global outlook and feature diverse viewpoints.
Although rooted in its most famous collaboration of 250 years ago, the book of Olney Hymns, the town can also foster a forward-thinking mindset. Indeed, the most famous hymn composed in Olney, known to us as Amazing Grace, was originally entitled by John Newton, Faith’s review and expectation which captures ORB’s spirit of being a review which generates and explores expectation.
ORB begins as a quarterly, reflecting the seasons, with our first issue in the summer of 2026.
In a sentence, ORB is interested in the whole process of books making a difference in the world, in how books are inspired, imagined, written, commissioned, rejected, printed, published, launched and read, not just how they are initially reviewed, plus how they are then put on shelves, displayed, hidden, loved, forgotten, shared, celebrated in festivals and through awards, circulated through libraries, set as texts in schools and universities, read in book clubs, discussed, argued about, criticised, cherished, revised, adapted to different media, illustrated, translated, bowdlerised, abridged, applied, given sequels and prequels, acknowledged as inspiring readers and other writers (or how they make such a difference without being acknowledged) and then how the cycle continues over the decades, through major anniversaries, such as centenaries, and how, 250 years on, a single hymn within a book or a single revolutionary text, can become the source of so much reflection on the meaning of life, on wisdom for the ages, and on timeless values.
What about a shorter sentence?
ORB is about books and words in the round.
On the eclipse of the moon
July 30, 1776
The moon in silver glory shone,
And not a cloud in sight,
When suddenly a shade begun
To intercept her light.
How fast across her orb it spread,
How fast her light withdrew!
A circle tinged with languid red,
Was all remained in view.
While many with unmeaning eye,
Gaze on thy works in vain,
Assist me, Lord, that I may try
Instruction to obtain.
Fain would my thankful heart and lips
Unite in praise to thee,
And meditate on thy eclipse,
In sad Gethsemane.
Thy people’s guilt, a heavy load,
(When standing in their room),
Deprived thee of the light of God,
And filled thy soul with gloom.
How punctually eclipses move,
Obedient to thy will!
Thus shall thy faithfulness and love
Thy promises fulfil.
Dark, like the moon without the sun,
I mourn thine absence, Lord!
For light or comfort have I none
But what thy beams afford.
But, lo! the hour draws near apace,*
When changes shall be o’er;
Then I shall see thee face to face,
And be eclipsed no more.
* 2 Corinthians 13:1
