We had two other alternatives which were tried out, but one was too orange and the other too dark a brown. The ‘copper’ of the original design also became this rather wonderful, slightly brownish but still metallic foil in the final binding. Some of the very fine details had inevitably to be given up (in particular those of the little animal heads in the four corners), as spreading does occur during the blocking process. Ten-year-old Mary comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors and finds an invalid cousin and a mysterious locked garden. You can see the final binding in this post. It didn’t quite give off the fieriness of true copper, but it was serviceable enough just to give an idea of the different metallic foils to be used for the actual binding. So I mixed some antique copper powder into the gold as an expedient. I wanted to use copper gouache along with the gold and silver, but Winsor & Newton had long stopped its production, and I had mislaid my sole tube of it some time ago. Gouache and ink on Havana Canson Mi-Teintes paper, approximately 325 x 245mm. But I will be visiting the exhibition itself later and will report what I can.īinding design for the limited edition of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, published by The Folio Society. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend the private view, as of course I will be at the Ink & Drink event on Thursday evening. You can see part of that piece in the slideshow here (the illustration before last). However, I’ve been informed that, ‘we were going to use the elephant’s child illustration, but to be honest we loved the depth of colour in the whale illustration – and it made such a contrast to Kipling’s own b/w illustrations which we are also showing’. I was slightly disappointed as I don’t feel it is one of my strongest for the book, and rather wished that if they did prefer the whale, they might have chosen this one with the mariner instead. In finding out more about the exhibition upon hearing the news, I did wonder whether the illustration would be that of the Elephant’s Child (as also used on the invitation above), but they had in fact chosen the one of the whale which was used for the book’s frontispiece, and which I haven’t shared here yet. I had been sent an invitation to the private view, but it must have gone astray. I’d only just learned yesterday that one of my Just So Stories illustrations is to be exhibited as part of the Picture This exhibition at the British Library. There is a two page preface, but no introduction or afterword.Īn index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.Suddenly things are happening all at once, it seems. The endleaves are pale yellow, and the dark green slipcase is 26x20cm. It is bound in green cloth blocked with a cover design in black and gold. The 192 page book has 16 colour illustrations by Maurice & Edward Detmold. I would have expected more green and brightness in the full sun of a tropical setting. My criticism of this edition is that the paintings are too dark and brown. The stories are set in an Indian jungle, a place with which Kipling was very familiar. A principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who is raised in the jungle by wolves. The characters are mainly animals including a tiger, a bear and elephants. The stories are entertaining for people of any age. The stories involve a variety of animals that find themselves in interesting predicaments that are a mixture of fantasy, magic, myth and the laws of life. Kipling’s complex morality is reflected in the stories, which form a philosophy of life. It is a mainstay of stories for children, but the tales also have adult meanings. If you haven’t read The Jungle Book, then you a missing a classic part of English literature.
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