This year marks 250 years since the birth of acclaimed writer Jane Austen. To celebrate, The Folio Society is publishing a six-volume limited edition of The Complete Novels by Jane Austen, and they're a thing of beauty.
All of Jane Austen's novels are included and they are encased in exquisitely woven silk and cotton covers, from Stephen Walters, the luxury silk-maker who wove the silk for Princess Diana's wedding dress.
Each includes a woodcut frontispiece, five lincout illustrations and fifteen vignettes by Sarah Young. There's also a monogram by award-winning calligrapher Ruth Rowland. The books are printed on Munken Pure paper, with three gilded edges and each book comes with a ribbon marker.
And did we mention that the whole set comes encased in a beautiful box covered in blocked cloth designed by prize-winning graphic designer Emily Benton?
In terms of the text, there are introductions from Elena Ferrante, Sebastian Faulks, Lucy Worsley, Fay Weldon, Val McDermid and Siri Hustvedt, which are sure to make for interesting reading.
I spoke to some of the artists behind the project to find out more about it.
First of all, I asked the illustrator Sarah, how she decided on the illustrative approach. "I work in many different ways and The Folio Society wanted me to use woodcut and linocut for these illustrations – they wanted a handmade aesthetic," explained Sarah.
These relief methods impose their own limitations which can be very helpful for such a big project
Sarah Young
"These relief methods impose their own limitations which can be very helpful for such a big project. I am a printmaker and illustrator, but for many years now the two have often merged.
"I wanted to combine a sense of order and rules with the contrasting strong and gentle emotions of the books. I came up with a specific shape for each book, which hopefully echoed some character of it, but also contained and ordered all five internal illustrations. This helped with the composition of the images and with the flow throughout all six books."
When did Sarah use woodcut and when was linocut more appropriate? "I was asked to produce woodcuts for the full-page frontispieces, and linos for the smaller five illustrations for each book," she said.
"Lino was a better choice for the smaller, more intricate designs, especially as I didn’t want to reduce the prints too much (as this would make them too fussy) so was working fairly small. I did combine the bolder woodcut as background for the more detailed lino internals."
I also spoke to calligrapher Ruth about her part in the project, creating six hand-lettered monograms for use on the books' spines.
I enjoyed taking inspiration from historical reference material, including Austen’s own handwriting
Ruth Rowland
"The hand lettering on the spines of the books references copperplate calligraphy, the style behind Jane Austen’s elegant handwriting, as well as historical monograms from the 1700s," Ruth explained.
"Instead of using a copperplate nib, I worked with a pointed brush to add a little more weight and legibility to the letters. This retained the flowing line and form of the historical script, while giving the monograms a contemporary feel. The letters were then set within oval cameos to complement the beautiful pattern design on the clothbound covers.
Did Ruth enjoy the project? "It was a privilege to work on such a high quality and thoughtfully produced series of books. In particular, I enjoyed taking inspiration from historical reference material from the era the books were written, including Austen’s own handwriting and giving it a modern twist for contemporary readers.”
The set costs £925 and is available from The Folio Society from 9 September.
