Books Illustrated Next Publication: War Horse

Books Illustrated has just announced that their 2023 title will be a letterpress printed edition of War Horse and it will be illustrated by Christian Birmingham

That is correct. We will be posting more information about this book and others very soon.

And following War Horse, in Autumn 2023, will be Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.

>3 AMindForeverVoyaging: I've not heard of Inkheart before but a Google search indicates that it is a YA fantasy novel, the first of a series. War Horse (which I haven't read) is a children's book from what I understand. As is the upcoming Lyra's Coraline. There is of course a major trend (bemoaned by some such as Jonathan Franzen and James Wood) of adults reading YA books but I wonder if this will be a trend in letterpress publishing.

>4 punkzip: it seems to be, with the titles and presses you mentioned and quite a few others. Personally, I’d rather put my money toward a fresh take on a canonical text, or to be introduced to new poetry or prose, or a book in the realm of typography, or a fine press bibliography, or a book showcasing a wood engraver’s talent over a glammed up YA book, but if the goal is to appeal to a wide audience to quickly sell out a limitation of 1000+ books then a choice like Sudden Immobility or Cascadia or 49 Days or Dispatches from the Lizard Brain won’t cut it. Nevertheless, I think its a good thing that letterpress is gaining popularity and the more presses there are in business, the better it is for all printers and foundries and paper makers and binders and so on. So the craft may live on.

>4 punkzip: I've never really liked the 'YA' label to be honest, but I think there's a difference between novels that are written with this specific audience in mind and those which are written simply because the author wants to write a good story, then get classified as 'children's', 'YA' etc at a later date. Then there are of course those which everyone accepts can be read by an audience of any age. I've not actually read Coraline but I very much enjoyed the film, even as an adult, and it's on this basis that I'm looking forward to Lyra's take on it. Also, I don't think anyone would be complaining if Lyra's suddenly announced they were doing The Hobbit or His Dark Materials (yes, I know both are unlikely), even if both could easily be classified as children's or YA. Heck, given the number of people who've read LotR before they turn 12 shouldn't that be classified as a children's book too? For me, what's far more important than the 'age classification' is that the work attains some sort of maturity/cultural significance before I would want to pick up a fine press edition.

>5 ChampagneSVP: I note that Arete seem to be trying to straddle both worlds - the popular and the traditional fine press audience - with their next title, Words of Fire by Neil Gaiman. I'm very interested to see how this turns out, particularly given the praise that's currently being heaped upon The Case of Death and Honey.

>6 Levin40: I agree, books like Coraline really do allow for a lavish illustrated book, look at Rackham's books, the use of design and art combined means that, as a designer, you can really 'go to town', good stories really do cross over into a more mature readership I feel, just by the creation of a Fine Edition. We are trying to get a fine press sensibility to a more popular buyer base, whether they appreciate that, we shall see. Words of Fire is more text/design orientated, Coraline (and our forthcoming Frozen Hell) enable us to push a contemporary 'fine press' sensibility I hope and, as you say, straddle both worlds. With Coraline I've really pushed the envelope with design, (enabled by the story) and I can't wait to see what readers make of it.

>6 Levin40: “For me, what's far more important than the 'age classification' is that the work attains some sort of maturity/cultural significance before I would want to pick up a fine press edition.”

You touch on a good point here. I‘ve recently revisited a number of books that I read when I was much younger and I’ve found meaning in them that you can only find after having experienced more of what life has to offer. In that sense, sometimes referring to them as books for children does them a disservice.

>5 ChampagneSVP: Agreed, even if someone decides to do a fine press version of a phone book, it helps to keep the craft alive.

>6 Levin40: My OP was referring to the larger cultural debate over adults reading YA/children's lit, which is a relatively recent trend. According to critics, a book does not necessarily have to be labelled YA to be YA, it is related to moral complexity The trend of course is not confined to fiction, the dominance of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is another example. Here is Jonathan Franzen:

"Most of what people read, if you go to the bookshelf in the airport convenience store and look at what’s there, even if it doesn’t have a YA on the spine, is YA in its moral simplicity. People don’t want moral complexity. Moral complexity is a luxury. You might be forced to read it in school, but a lot of people have hard lives. They come home at the end of the day, they feel they’ve been jerked around by the world yet again for another day. The last thing they want to do is read Alice Munro, who is always pointing toward the possibility that you’re not the heroic figure you think of yourself as, that you might be the very dubious figure that other people think of you as. That’s the last thing you’d want if you’ve had a hard day. You want to be told good people are good, bad people are bad, and love conquers all. And love is more important than money. You know, all these schmaltzy tropes. That’s exactly what you want if you’re having a hard life. Who am I to tell people that they need to have their noses rubbed in moral complexity?"

https://booth.butler.edu/2015/02/13/a-conversation-with-jonathan-franzen/

See also James Wood's review of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, which he claimed was YA/children's lit despite not being marketed as such.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/10/21/the-new-curiosity-shop

As an adult who sometimes reads YA/children's lit (but also appreciates the type of fiction Franzen writes) I am not criticizing this trend, just pointing it out. I am also not criticizing the fine press publishing of YA/children's lit in expensive, finely crafted editions, just wondering whether it is part of this larger trend. I find YA lit to be "comfort" reads, they provide a sense of stability and security when the world is not so stable or secure.

I find that "intended target age" is more of an indicator of content when it is genre fiction. For example, primer-like books for children, "vampire romance" books for YA, "airport thrillers" for adults, that kind of thing. Beyond that it is difficult to pigeonhole a book simply by its target age. I don't think anyone would argue whether that the children's book Alice In Wonderland contains intellectually stimulating content for all ages. Similar, the YA novel Godless by Pete Hautman is a deceptively clever and deep allegory for the evolution of religions, all while outwardly looking like a teen drama.

A lot of YA is written from the same mindset as "blockbuster" movies - "I'm going to pitch this as within the genre confines so that folks know exactly what they are getting, all while hewing to tropes and conventions". So as a marketing term it makes sense for a certain breed of novel. But not everything sold as YA is so rigidly defined, just as not every movie released in Summer is a Summer blockbuster. So while I don't think there's any need for a fine press edition of the Sweet Water High books, I wouldn't balk at a fine press edition of, say, John Christoper's Tripod trilogy or William Sleator's House of Stairs.

Very interesting conversation, and one I can certainly relate to when it comes to seeking some escapism, in both my reading and TV-watching habits.

Thank you all for your comments. Speaking as the publisher, we are focusing on a range of titles that play to our strengths and current client base. That is, that these stories lend themselves to being well illustrated. It is a niche we have developed over the past ten plus years and we are pleased that we are encouraging lovers of these stories to the world of letterpress and fine books.

We have posted a video of Michael Morpurgo talking about his story, War Horse and discussing the upcoming letterpress edition. It can be viewed on our website www.booksillustrated.com or on youtube: https://youtu.be/26uaYrnPqg8

Pre-order will open on our site on the 21 January 2023 at 2pm
Published late Summer

Three edition bindings:
400 Cloth bound Collectors Editions - Price £295
154 Leather bound Deluxe Editions - Price £700
26 Vellum bound Prestige Lettered Editions - Price £2,500

More details to follow next week.

We have now released a video of War Horse on Youtube : https://youtu.be/hOdP169xNRs and on our website www.booksillustrated.com. Please enjoy it and let us know if you have any questions.

>14 Books-Illustrated: Really well-produced video and the book looks great as well.

>14 Books-Illustrated: Excellent video, reminds me of the videos that Folio Society does.

Interestingly, I was not even aware that there was a book called War Horse until it was announced by your press. I even watched the movie and did not know that it was based on a book.

>14 Books-Illustrated: Thank you for including page and type samples for this one! Those tend to be a much bigger factor for me than the binding, and the pages you show in your video look quite nice.

>14 Books-Illustrated: Very well produced video which shows all the relevant details. One query - will the images be tipped-in for the Collectors edition as well as I could not see that aspect in the video?

>14 Books-Illustrated: Excellent video and a really attractive volume. Not my subject of interest, but if it were it would be an immediate purchase. Handsome work!

>15 CTPress-Tony: Thank you Tony.

>16 punkzip: In fact, when we first announced we were publishing War Horse last year it happened to be it's 40th anniversary as the book was first published in 1982. To get some background on the book, check out this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Horse_(novel)
I often find myself checking to see if a movie I love started life as book.

>18 venkysuniverse: Thank you for your question. The Prestige has 15 tipped in plates. The Deluxe has it's frontispiece illustration tipped-in. The Collectors illustrations are all printed on the page. Incidentally, two illustrations in each edition are double page spreads and are not tipped-in.

It was good to be interviewed about this edition on GB News on Easter Saturday. If you want to see the program, please use this link: https://youtu.be/nuoB9YPGa7s

A video of the Collector's Edition has gone up and it looks really nice! The fold-out artwork is a nice surprise, and I believe the frontispiece has changed from the original mockups and it's a lively update, in my opinion. It's difficult for me to tell whether or not I like something from mockups, so this kind of video presentation is really appreciated. I can't wait to view the unboxing for the Deluxe and Prestige editions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppCfysaCI18&t=1s

>25 AlexBookshelfFrog: My pleasure!

I just got mine yesterday. It looks even better in person.

>27 c_schelle: Yay!! That's so great to hear.

>29 AlexBookshelfFrog: Exciting! Hopefully you'll have it in-hand soon.

Got my Deluxe Edition today and its absolutely stunning.

● the Letterpress print by Nomad is great
● the illustrations are just gorgeous (there are a lot 🙂)
● it's numbered and signed by the Author and Artist
● perfectly bound by Ludlow Bookbinders
○ the nigerian goatskin leather is super delicate and soft
● flawless gilded edges
● the replica bag (dont know the correct name right now) functions as an kind of Slipcase is absolutely amazing
● the marbled endpapers by Paperwild are excellent 👌

The price is hefty, but you get an really well made book that will last for generations.
On top it will be an eye catcher in youre bookshelve.

I give 10/10 ❤️‍🔥

(I even like it a little bit more then my Deluxe Night Circus which is stunning aswell)

Iam excited what will come next. ( after Inkheart )
Thank you 🙂😊
Books-Illustrated