Frozen Hell update! We’ve been busy over the last few weeks, production on Frozen Hell and Lyra’s Oz, printing Benjamin Button and working out our future books. Frozen Hell has a very complex interior production which has taken an awful lot longer for the craftspeople at Ludlow Bookbinders, these clips, unedited, will give you a sense of putting in twenty two foldouts, double page and single page plates that need to be sewn into the book! It is proving VERY time consuming.

And here’s another teaser! For Lud-in-the Mist by Hope Mirrlees, one of the most influential fantasy novels in the last few decades, originally only known by authors such as Neil Gaiman, now acknowledged as a towering masterpiece. This is the first Fine Press edition of the book, extraordinarily illustrated by Scott McKowen using scratchboard technique, which is perfect for letterpress print making:

A teaser, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley has not had a Fine Press edition for over fifty years that I know of.

We have, for the last two years, been working with one of the pioneers of the ‘Pop Art’ movement of the ‘60’s; Allen Jones. Known for his brightly coloured paintings, prints and, sometimes infamous, sculptures, he is one of the last living artists from that time. He has produced over 20 prints for the story. Concentrating on the human relationships and the characters in his own unique voice, Allen Jones has managed to find vision of the book not explored before. We feel he has created an extraordinary book.

Here is a letterpress print of the scene that shocks the audience watching, then: ‘Laughter broke out, enormous, almost hysterical, peal after peal, as though it would never stop. My father–and it was the Director! My father! Oh Ford, oh Ford! That was really too good. The whooping and the roaring renewed themselves, faces seemed on the point of disintegration, tears were streaming. Six more test-tubes of spermatozoa were upset. My father!’

While I work on getting Oz together for Rich’s Lyra, we are working on other books!

One of them is Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees, Neil Gaiman says; Lud as “one of the finest [fantasy novels] in the English language…. It is a little golden miracle of a book.” He described Mirrlees’s writing as “elegant, supple, effective and haunting: the author demands a great deal from her readers, which she repays many times over.” He says that it is one of his top ten favourite books.

Scott McKowen is the illustrator for the novel, he is creating over thirty, letterpress relief print illustrations for the book! Here he shows us his tools and work in progress of the finished piece: ‘My tools are all here — no.11 x-acto blade, an engraving burin when I need an even finer line, an old Castel-Faber technical pen with black ink (for correcting errors), magnifying lupe attached to the swing-arm of an old desk lamp (held on with jury-rigged plastic plumbing hardware), and a brush for sweeping away the insidious ink dust….’

Phil, master printer and partner/creator of Arete Editions and private press publisher of Hand & Eye editions has a brilliant interview and offers insights in to letterpress printing at collectable book vault, not to be missed! And they are giving away some free stuff donated by us! See now at:

In preparation is Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees. First published in 1926, it is now recognised as one of the most significant works of fantasy. It was largely unknown for many years, although it was revered by authors and devotees of the genre.

Neil Gaiman has described it as;

‘Hope Mirrlees only wrote one fantasy novel, but it is one of the finest in the English language.

The book begins as a travelogue or a history, becomes a pastorale, a low comedy, a high comedy, a ghost story and a detective story. The writing is elegant, supple, effective and haunting: the author demands a great deal from her readers, which she repays many times over.

It is a little golden miracle of a book, adult, in the best sense, and, as the best fantasy should be, far from reassuring.’

It is one of his top ten favourite books.

Our edition will have over forty stunning relief prints by Scott McKowen. Neil Gaiman suggested that we commission him, and it was a masterful idea!

Next on the press is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald with illustrations by Dave McKean. He is using a modern version of the two- and three-colour techniques that made mid-twentieth century illustrated books so exciting. It too, along with Frozen Hell, is due to be completed this spring.

This was a dreadful night, I know as I was helping to move art in the same studio block. They are self funded, so any help for this amazing resource I’m sure would be gratefully received!

https://londonbookarts.org/pages/support-our-mission

We all hope that you have had a wonderful break, much needed here! First, a big thank you!

We started Areté two-and-a-half years ago and we are most grateful for your support since then – we couldn’t have got this far without you. Thank you.

We have been working on some wonderful artist-driven books during 2023 which will be coming out this year. Here is Frozen Hell, written by John W. Campbell and illustrated by Gregory Manchess, is due for completion in the first quarter. The letterpress text has been printed and the colour prints are now on the press. binding is going to be a long, complex job as we want the plates to lie completely flat when the book is open. Some of them are a metre wide!

First, a big thank you!

We started Areté two-and-a-half years ago and we are most grateful for your support since then – we couldn’t have got this far without you. Thank you.

And now we want to tell you about our plans for the coming year.

Marcelo and Phil

Looking forward to 2024

We have a spectacular year coming. We have been working on some wonderful artist-driven books during 2023 which will be coming out this year. Frozen Hell, written by John W. Campbell and illustrated by Gregory Manchess, is due for completion in the first quarter. The letterpress text has been printed and the colour prints are now on the press. binding is going to be a long, complex job as we want the plates to lie completely flat when the book is open. Some of them are a metre wide!

Next on the press

Next on the press is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald with illustrations by Dave McKean. He is using a modern version of the two- and three-colour techniques that made mid-twentieth century illustrated books so exciting. It too is due to be completed this spring.

Payment by instalment

Both these books are available for pre-order from our online store. Happily we’ve been able to implement staged payments for all our books – just look for the Partially option in the checkout.

A major new publication

We are working with Allen Jones R.A. on an important new edition of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. The book has long been recognised as one of the most important pieces of English twentieth-century literature and is a worthy subject for an artist of Allen’s stature. He has been excited by the idea of an artist’s book from the start and over the last two years has created dozens of new images in colour and monochrome. The centre-piece will be a twelve-page section made up entirely of his colour prints.

We’ll be announcing more in the coming months. Meanwhile, here are a few of the images Allen has been working on.

“One of the finest fantasy novels
in the English language”

Also in preparation is Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees. First published in 1926, it is now recognised as one of the most significant works of fantasy. It was largely unknown for many years, although it was revered by authors and devotees of the genre. Neil Gaiman has described it as “one of the finest fantasy novels in the English language… It is a little golden miracle of a book.” The writing, he says, is “elegant, supple, effective and haunting: the author demands a great deal from her readers, which she repays many times over.” It is one of his top ten favourite books.

Our edition will have over forty stunning relief prints by Scott McKowen. Neil Gaiman suggested that we commission him, and it was a masterful idea.

More exciting projects

We’re very happy that we have an on-going relationship with Neil Gaiman and we are working on new projects with him. We can’t say more at the moment except that we know these are going to be really exciting books.

Stand by for further news
and Happy New Year!