‘When the pole was a staff and the rag was a flag' exhibition

fantastic Idler illustrator Mike Redmond www.flickr.com/photos/mikeredmond

and Sali Steven have a new show of work at the brand new Oklahoma Basement Gallery

Here's the details...

When the pole was a staff and the rag was a flag 

By Mike Redmond & Sali Steven

"The show is split into two mainly equal parts; One about my efforts in wasting time and my long lost brother. The other section is about the three robber brothers of the future and their affiliation with each other and their historical heroes focusing on the unabiding attitute to future laws and sad fates. Balling in and out of reality and made up ideas I have tried to free myself from the construct of time, however like most problems I have shot back into the past, the present and the future as the show title explains. Following my miserable excuses of where me and my brother have been and will go. Motion Past."

The show opens on November the 8th, and is open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 12–5pm, until December 20th 2013, at the Oklahoma Basement Gallery, Oklahoma Giftshop & Cafe, 74 - 76 High Street, Manchester, M41 ES

http://bracketpress.co.uk

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....

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

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!

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.

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...

available from http://unbound.co.uk/books/news-from-gardenia

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

The Art Car Boot fair 2012

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

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.

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.