One For Your Book Shelves

Or perhaps your coffee table would be a better place

 

As you may know at Book Palace Books we aim not only to bring you some of the finest illustration books under our own imprint but to promote other publishers who we believe are doing sterling service to the great cause. The Art of Bob Peak is a classic case in point.

 

Here's a blurb from the publisher of this fine book:

 

"For the first time, a comprehensive oversize 380 page coffee table book on the Life and Art of Bob Peak. The book includes over 600 images of works spanning a forty year career with many never before seen illustrations along with his many iconic illustrations for the Movies, Major Periodicals, National Ad Campaigns, Time Magazine Covers, Fashion Advertising, Sports Advertising and more.

Bob Peak came on the New York Advertising Art Scene in the early 1950’s. He went on to become one of the most prolific illustrators of the 21st century. His artistic vision represented a bridge between the era of Norman Rockwell and Coby Whitmore, with its emphasis on technique, to more direct ways of making pictures, greater use of line, and a more startling, bolder palette. In 1961 he was named “Artist of the Year” by the Artist Guild of New York. In 1977 he was inducted into the prestigious New York Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame. In 1992 after over 100 Movie Campaigns including his iconic images for such films as, My Fair Lady, Camelot, Star Trek, and Apocalypse Now, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Hollywood Reporters for his contribution to the film industry."

As soon as we heard about this book we realised that we needed to stock copies. This is the sort of book we are proud to have in our Recommended Books section on Book Palace Books as we believe it furthers illustration as an area for serious critical appraisal and more importantly is just damn fine. Bob Peak was one of the finest commercial illustrators to work in the USA in the latter half of the 20th Century and this glorious profusely illustrated coffee table sized book does his work justice.

 

My Fair Lady Movie Poster

 

 

Camelot Movie Poster

You can order copies of the book here it comes in its own protective card case and is superbly designed. Just the thing to leaf through on those long chill nights ahead.

 

 



Ship Ahoy

Long term readers of our blogs will know of the fun we have in tracking the progress of our books from the printers in Hong Kong to their delivery in the UK. On this occasion the good vessel Xin Shanghai has been given the grave duty of safely transporting The Art of Denis McLoughlin and Illustrators Quarterly #1.

 Here she is with our container six rows from the back three down from the top in the area reserved for V.I.P.s - that's Very Important Publications as if you have to ask. As I type these immortal words the ship is just approaching that bastion of Britishness Gibraltar. If you'd like to join in the fun there is a link here. Let's hope the ship doesn't get Shanghaied by jealous Pirate Publishers.

More update Soon, Best Dave

More Than A Storm in a Teacup!

As some of you folks will know the company that does our printing is based in Hong Kong. Now what non-Olympics related news story came out of Hong Kong recently? That's right they suffered from a vicious Typhoon, just as the ship was due to leave port. This was a level 10 typhoon, the first to hit HK since 1999. Luckily no one was injured. Luckily Illustartors #1 didn't get reduced to paper mache.

A Bone Dry Copy of Illustrators 1 Spotted Recently

More to the point despite a few days delay I can now tell you that both Illustrators # 1 and The Art of Denis McLoughlin are due to arrive in England on the 17th of August a red letter day for your diaries.

Arrival Date 17 August 2012

I thought I'd better put 2012 in the date just in case there are any doubting Thomases out there.

We currently have Santas little helpers doing their summer work labeling mailers ready for the big push. More news from the frontline as soon as I have it.

Best Dave.

Research is a Wonderful Thing

Hello there and welcome back. Thanks to all of you who expressed concern but yes I did survive the hippy festival, just barely mind. While I sit here in a happy hippy daze I thought I should bring to your attention a little something you may have missed.

A book as rich in detail and as copiously illustrated as David Ashford's The Art of Denis McLoughlin requires an awful lot of research. Editor Peter Richardson spent a considerable amount of time and effort in collecting samples of Denis McLoughlin's work on the T.V. Boardman American Bloodhound Mystery series. Here's one I read earlier (don't tell the wife!).

The results of his collecting frenzy will be plain for the world to see once the book is published in August. These Bloodhound books, once extremely popular, are now increasingly rare and in demand amongst collectors. It's easy to understand why they command respectable prices; not only did the books introduce many significant  thriller / mystery authors to the British market but Denis McLoughlin in his capacity as Art Director of the series produced some of his strongest work for them.

As lovely as these books are we've decided that the best thing to do is release them back into the wild and give collectors a chance to fill in the gaps in their Wants Lists. You can find a full listing of those we have for sale here including full descriptions; condition etc. The highlight for me has to be this very nice example of Henry Kane's Death on the Double, which as well as having one of Denis Loughlin's most alluring covers also features as a bonus a bookmark, a contemporary T.V. Boardman catalogue AND a letter signed by McLoughlin himself; a unique opportunity for collectors of the great man's work.

The Art of Denis McLoughlin together with the eagerly anticipated Illustrators Quarterly issue one (available here) are due to land in the UK around the 18th August. We feel certain that once people see the high quality reproductions of these covers the rare Bloodhound originals will fly off the shelves. Fair warning and all that.

That's all for now, have a good weekend. Best, Dave.

Our Next Project

With both the first issue of Illustrators and our Art of Denis McLoughlin book currently being printed we thought it was time to give readers a sneak preview of our next major project. As some of you will know we have wanted to publish Frank Bellamy's work on Heros the Spartan for some time. This classic strip from the pages of the legendary Eagle comic stands equal to the best comics art from around the world. To do justice to the quality of the material we are aiming for very high production values. If by chance you have never seen the late great Frank Bellamy's work on Heros here are a few panels, the large battle scene at the bottom is taken from a page of original art which is a wonder to behold. There will be more to follow, keep watching these pages.

Best Regards, Dave.

The Art of Denis McLoughlin 

Illustrators #1 Ready To Print

I hope everyone enjoyed the recent Diamond Jubilee holiday weekend. As much as I enjoyed waving my plastic Union Jack it was great to find that on getting back to the Batcave, er, sorry I mean the office, I found that the digital proofs of David Ashford's marvellous The Art of Denis McLoughlin and Illustrators issue one had arrived from the printers. Editor Peter Richardson has spent the last 72 hours giving the material a final tweak before sending them back to Honk Kong with a green light to start printing.

Just as a reminder here's the new improved cover for illustrators 1. We decided  to go with this image as we felt it encapsulated the noir feel McLoughlin strove got in his T.V. Boardman crime work.

I would be remiss if I didn't try and further whet your appetite for Illustrators 1 by mentioning the feature on Angel Badia Camps by our friend David A. Roach.

 What McLoughlin did for Hard Boiled detectives and Ian Kennedy for air warfare, Camps did for Romance and Fashion with his deliciously hip (and now chic retro) styling.

 Mind you he could turn his hand to the gothic

 and draw a good "Sam Spade"

as these sneak previews readily show.

 

David's article is packed with hitherto little known information on this Spanish great.

 

Your support on these two projects is greatly appreciated Illustrators 1 is available for pre-order here with an option for a four issue subscription saving postage in the UK and The Art of Denis McLoughlin here.

 

Check back soon for more updates on the progress of these two publications and perhaps a sneak preview of Illustrators issue 2 which is almost completed as I type.

 

Have a great weekend, Regards, Dave

Latest News

We'd like to thank all our customers who have supported our move into periodic publication by subscribing to the first four issues of Illustrators Quarterly or by ordering the first issue. Similarly it's been very gratifying to hear all the positive comments and receive pre-orders for our next book The Art of Denis McLoughlin  . Your support is very important to us and we appreciate the commitment  given the current economic climate. There is of course still time to subscribe and take advantage of our free UK postage offer. We've kept the international rates as low as possible too despite the recent Royal Mail price hike. If you like to support us by paying now rather than on publication just say so in the comments section of your order, or use PayPal, otherwise credit/debit cards will only be charged once we are ready to ship your order.

 And so to the update...

 The digital proofs are now at the printers being given the once over. Shortly we will get a print out which will be our last chance to discover any howlers. I say this as one of five people who's proof read the Quarterly and the book so far. The observant amongst you will have noticed that we recently changed the cover for Illustrators #1. The new cover has more, shall we say va-va-voom and I think a wonderful noir feel redolent of the classic crime films of the 1940s and '50s.

I'll leave you with a sample of the stunning artwork that accompanies the Ian Kennedy

interview

and a couple of my favourite McLoughlin covers for the T.V. Boardman books.

Don't forget to come back soon for more progress reports and sneak previews.

Regards

Dave