10.12.12

A Toad in Alice's Hole

A new beautifully letterpress printed chapbook from Incline Press

This little chapbook contains two poems: Mr.Toad by Kenneth Grahame and Warty Bliggens by Don Marquis, for which I did a couple of illustrations.




I have a handful copies available in my shop http://alices.bigcartel.com

And visit the Incline Press website for further details.

new at the Idler

The Idler's website has had a bit of a makeover... http://idler.co.uk
We've been working with the brains and brawn at www.qrupa.com

Also in the last few months I've been working away at the mill producing newly printed produce to go on sale at the Academy over the coming weeks, and many changes, events and exciting projects are afoot for 2013, more details soon....

23.7.12

A fine thing... "Do You Want it Good or Do You Want it Tuesday?"

A beautifully produced little book about the history of one of the finest book illustration printers W.S. Cowell, includes tales behind the printing of the Babar the Elephant books and one of my favourite hand-me-down books Orlando the Marmalade Cat - a very gorgeous lithograph printed children's book.
Designed by Webb & Webb












15.7.12

fine thing... art by Gee Vaucher

one of the most inspiring people...

Here's some of her awesome work collated into a book
available from www.exitstencilpress.com

  
 
 
 
 

Latitude feast

Mud festivals... missing it. Jealous of those people making it to Latitude this weekend.

Last month I was commissioned to work on a load of illustrations for their programme.
a sneaky peek... meet Shakes' the rabbit!







2.7.12

a fine thing... monolithic book: E R Weiss: the Typography of an Artist

our friends at Incline Press have recently printed and bound this extensive monograph about the book artist E R Weiss, and it is BEAUTIFUL!


About the book... 
E.R. Weiss: the Typography of an Artist by Gerald Cinamon

E.R. Weiss was a highly respected painter, poet, calligraphier, book artist and type designer. He studied at the Julian in Paris, where one of his fellow students was Toulouse-Lautrec. His first ambition in life was to be a poet, but he came to wider fame for his typefaces and the hundreds of books he designed, almost wholly for German publishers. As a calligrapher Weiss had few equals, and his etched edition of Sappho for the Marées-Gesellschaft is regarded as a supreme example of book art. Though often overlooked, he remains one of the important figures of early 20th century design, inspiring such luminaries of typography as Elizabeth Friedlander and Jan Tschichold.


"Lovers of beautiful books, elegant design, and clear typography will be delighted with our new monograph about the book artist, Emil Rudolf Weiss. Weiss stands high in the pantheon of great book artists that includes William Morris, Bruce Rogers and Francis Meynell, among others, but because his work was mostly distributed in Germany, he tends to be less well known in the English speaking world."
For more details about this book, please visit: http://www.inclinepress.com




INSIDE











This last photo shows one of my book cover designs for Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen which featured a Weiss typeface. Incline Press wanted to include this as an example of a contemporary use of Weiss' type. I'm very pleased and honoured to be included in this monograph - thank you Incline Press, and I send a note of thanks to Hamish Hamilton for allowing and arranging for the printing of extra covers of this book.

1.7.12

Books from Unbound: 'News from Gardenia'


A new book from the publisher Unbound...
'News from Gardenia' by Robert Llewellyn
published later this week on Thursday, 5th July



I designed and illustrated the cover, with typography by the talented hands of Katie Marcus. After quite a few ideas knocking about, I thought an old fashioned vignette collage with added modern London landmarks, set against a vivid florescent yellow would work well with Robert's storyline...


7.6.12

Printed & Published talk @ Hot Bed Press

On Wednesday 13th June, I'll be doing a talk about Publishing, at Hot Bed Press in Salford.
7pm-8.30pm
£5 (Hot Bed Press members) & £10 (to non-members)
Please do stop by for a chat or if you have any questions,
there's no need to book, just turn up on the evening.

I'll be giving a brief insight into the workings of a private press and why we decided to set up Bracketpress. And I'll be talking through some of the nitty gritty processes of making a 'book' into a published edition, with regards to both handprinted small editions and large editions of thousands - discussing production alternatives, and the issues of barcodes and distribution. We'll be looking at some of our collaborativly published works, including the Idler magazine, and discussing how working as a private press can open up new opportunities and experiences, and how projects with authors and more mainstream publishers in turn can inspire new projects.

Bracketpress: And Now it Rains


 new edition from Bracketpress: 

And Now It Rains
a series of poems 2005-2007
by Penny Rimbaud

A new, completely re-designed, edition with a new introduction by Penny Rimbaud.

published by Bracketpress in association with Exitstencil Press
Second Edition, 198mm x 129mm, paperback, 144 pages
ISBN 978-0-9566184-1-2

£12 inc. FREE UK P&P

www.bracketpress.co.uk

26.5.12

The Art Car Boot fair 2012

New prints on the Idler's stand at the Art Car Boot fair tomorrow



17.5.12

Vulgar Tomfoolery - a not so celebratory Jubliee inspired poster

NEW: 'Vulgar Tomfoolery' Jubilee poster from Bracketpress & Bad Books

This A2 poster(594mm x 420mm) litho printed on 300gsm art paper – sets a quotation by radical nineteenth century designer William Morris against a background of his own wallpaper design. The quote; ‘Hideous, revolting and vulgar tomfoolery. One’s indignation swells pretty much to the bursting point’ was written by the fiercely anti-royal Morris on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s jubilee in 1877. 

A collaboration between Bad Books and Bracketpress, the poster is available for a limited period (hurry up, the Jubilee celebrations are grinding into action) and is perfect as either a neatly-framed statement of intent or tacked up in the front window (to annoy those Royalist neighbours). 

It is available to purchase immediately for a Paypal-clickable £10 (FREE UK P&P) from Bracketpress

We fancy that at the height of the coming media-led frenzy that is Mrs Windsor’s jubilee, an excuse to celebrate her 60-year career as the largest recipient of state handouts in Britain, it would be amiss not to mark the occasion with a display of your position on this glorification of privilege and birthright.

coming soon: Idler 45: Utopia issue


Idler 45: the Utopia issue will be available soon, pre-order from the idler shop

This issue is a sumptuously produced collection of essays loosely themed around the idea of utopia. As well as fresh modern contributions, we have republished excerpts from Thomas More's Utopia and William Morris's News From Nowhere. It features a brilliant careers guide talk by Louis Theroux, plus inspiring meditatons from Bill Drummond and Penny Rimbaud. There's also Mark Vernon on Plato, Joe Dunthorne on Occupy, plus John-Paul Flintoff, Ian Bone, David Bramwell, Boff Whalley, Hugh Warwick and Nicholas Lezard. There are beautiful photos and illustrations from Casey Orr, Alice Smith, Mireille Fauchon, Jake Blanchard, Holly Wales, Luke Fenech, Alex Robbins, Mike Redmond. Typeset by Christian Brett of Bracketpress.


14.5.12

for Alice, about Alice, from Alice x


a recently commissioned screen print for a beautiful baby girl called Alice...
depicting the perils of living in Alice's Wonderland.

30.3.12

Idler Art updates

some new updates to the Idler Art blog 
from Chrissie Abbott, James Dawe, and Sam Green
these illustrators recently contributed to a special edition of the Idler magazine on Electricty, commissioned by Vauxhall motors.


And some new visceral offerings at the Idler's Utopia project blog
[note the submission date and details have altered slightly, the project will now run into Summer!]


Screen Printed Cards

a new site selling screen printed, sewn, stamped, signed and wrapped greetings cards

screenprintedcards.bigcartel.com

27.2.12

the Idler's Utopia project

A new project for the next issue of the Idler magazine...the Idler's Utopia,
for anyone with a pencil, some paper and a utopian idea. All ages and interpretations are welcome. Submit an illustration, artwork, photo, sketch, or collage, inspired by your idea of a utopia. Our aim is to collate a few beautiful ideas, ignore the doom and gloom, and to be merry.
For more details please visit the website:   http://idlersutopia.tumblr.com



17.2.12

IDLER ART

I've started a new blog for the Idler magazine:   idlerart.tumblr.com
collecting fine things, illustrations, art - hand made and found by Idlers.

Mary Katrantzou


Mary Katrantzou!

how quick can a dress be sold out? - 2 minutes!
 
http://www.marykatrantzou.com/Mary-Katrantzou-Press-Book.pdf

5.2.12

sewing a thousand heart strings...

new Latin L.O.V.E cards for Valentine's day
You can buy them from Alice's shop
or if you're passing by London way, they are available at the Idler Academy

13.1.12

also at Selfridges... It's Nice That

alongside the Idler Academy taking up residence at Selfridges this month... is the folk from It's Nice That. They have curated a series of talks about Words and Communication, http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/talk-number-1-words-as-communication, and some amazing window display artworks, http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/its-nice-that-words-words-words-at-selfridges

The Idler Academy at Selfridges

the Idler Academy is taking up residence in Selfridges in London over the next two months. This is part of their Words Words Words season, designed to celebrate the literary. We have a table of Idler goodies on sale upstairs in the Wonder Room, and a series of wonderful literary workshops and lessons in the Ultralounge, a comfy space in the basement with a library of 15,000 books. It’s very exciting and we kick off on Friday 13 January at 5pm for a grammar lesson with Mr Gwynne.  And click here take a look at the other events

7.1.12

NEW prints at the Idler Academy


We've printed these new screen prints for the Idler Academy

Printed on Fabriano 285gsm, with deckle edge down one side, hand numbered and stamped, in a limited edition of 50, with a choice of either the Blanco - an exquisite snowy white stock, or Rosaspina - a more antique cream for the more refined textured walls.

There is only a handful left of these super prints on this fine heavyweight print stock...

available at the Idler Academy in Notting Hill
http://idler.co.uk/academy