That's right, having braved Typhoons, Somali Pirates, Giant Squid,
Krakens and Moby Dick himself, the container vessel carrying several
palettes worth of
The Art of Denis McLoughlin and
illustrators Quarterly
has finally docked at Felixstowe. Which means that copies of both these
lovely items will be at Book Palace Books HQ this week. Whereupon the
trusty Book Palace Elves fortified with tea and seed cake will be
scurrying around for hour upon hour breaking open the palettes and
cradling the treasured contents to their sweaty breasts (don't worry
folks each and every copy of book and journal is sealed in mylar) as
they run from delivery bay to warehouse, emitting occasional shrieks of
delight as they go about their task.
I have already talked a little bit about
The Art of Denis McLoughlin
which is a lovely book to behold and was for all involved a real joy to
work on, but there is an ongoing publishing project in the shape of
illustrators which is something so exciting that we will be sharing
little snippets of information as we continue with what is shaping up to
be a really rewarding enterprise.
illustrators is in many ways more of a book than a
journal, each copy is 96 pages of beautiful artwork by the greatest
European and UK illustrators accompanied by well researched and lively
text. Our overall remit with each feature is that the writing should
connect the reader with the artist and the world that he/she inhabited
so that by the end of the piece the reader will gain a far greater
insight into the work they are looking at.
To
aid us in this mission we have a really excellent editorial team, we
have as consultant editors David Ashford and David Roach, whose passion
for their subjects is matched and underpinned by their abilities to
research the artists whose work they are highlighting. David Ashford has
long been a passionate champion of illustration and his friendship with
artists such as Denis McLoughlin has been a key factor in helping
spread the word about an era of illustration which informed so many
people's perception of the world around them. David Roach has similarly
devoted hours beyond recall, talking to artists and their agents,
visiting them in their studios and generally immersing himself in the work
of artists whose work would otherwise have slipped into anonymity.
In
addition to the services of the two Davids, we also have our associate
editor Bryn Havord, who in addition to teaching yours truly the finer
points concerning midge's dicks, widows and orphans and running turns
has the most impressive CV imaginable for a project of the magnitude of
illustrators.
Bryn was working as a leading Fleet Street art editor throughout the
60s. It was Bryn who gave Renato Fratini his first commission for
Woman's Mirror, who was regularly commissioning artists such as Michael
Johnson, Walter Wyles and Brian Sanders. Bryn's passion for illustration
is second to none and his passion is backed up by years of experience
as well as a deep insight and knowledge of many of the most influential
of European illustrators, whose work you will be seeing in greater
detail over the coming months and years.
So that's our core team, but in addition we will be featuring an expanding cast of writers including crime fiction writer and
Hardboiled
editor; Gary Lovisi, children's illustration enthusiast; Norman
Wright, Pan Horror chronicler; Johnny Mains, writer and broadcaster
Brian Sibley, writer and blogger Jeremy Briggs, Luci Gosling from The
Mary Evans Picture Library Frank Bellamy devotee Norman Boyd and many more writers who we are currently
talking to.
As will be apparent from our first issue we are keen to source as
much work as feasible from original artwork and where that is not
possible, printer's proofs or high grade printed sources, so that there
is we can get the reader as close to experiencing the full import of an
artist's work as is possible.
I'll be talking a little more about some of our forthcoming issues shortly but in the meantime here's some images of
illustrators number one just as an appetizer.
