As a supporter of our edition of Pride and Prejudice, I wanted to let you know that we have just launched our newest publication on Kickstarter. I am excited to announce that, with the blessing of Agatha Christie’s family and estate, we are publishing the first ever fine press edition of one of her most iconic works — Death on the Nile.
As with all Thornwillow publications, this edition is printed letterpress, bound by hand, signed, numbered, and will include a list of subscribers. There are several versions from which to choose — ranging from copies bound in letterpress printed paper wrappers to full leather bindings tooled in gold and set with cabochon jewels.
We have also endeavored to create a campaign which is itself worthy of Christie's exciting text; over the course of the next three weeks, a mystery will be unraveling around the campaign. Follow the project to follow the mystery. You do not need to back the project to participate in the contest—the grand prize being a one-of-a-kind full leather copy set with a cabochon opal. The more participation in the mystery the better... and we will be giving rewards to ALL backers based on participation in the mystery.
Thornwillow is committed to teaching and perpetuating the related arts and crafts of the written word and to bringing out books that will become heirlooms for readers today and for years to come. We need your support to make this happen. Please consider backing this project and join us in celebrating the written word.
With very best regards from the press,
Luke Pontifell
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE — OUR WORK IS COMPLETE.
almost 7 years ago
– Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 09:38:48 PM
Greetings from the Press!
We are happy to announce that our work on Pride and Prejudice is complete. The edition is done! All of us at the press were so excited for the opportunity to work on this wonderful project and we are truly grateful for your support. In the end, we feel that the finished volume exceeds our expectations. We hope you agree and are enjoying your copy of this special publication.
Many versions of the edition are now fully subscribed. If you are interested in getting another copy, you can find and order one of the remaining ones here. And if you particularly like the fantasy facsimiles in the book, we have bound a few sets of them as an independent volume — imagining how Elizabeth Bennet’s notebook might have looked. Limited edition of only 60 copies.
We are immersed this month in the arts of 18th and early 19th Century England. Not only have we been completing work on Pride and Prejudice, we are also working on an edition of Thomas Chippendale's Original Drawings for the Director. Chippendale published The Gentlemen and Cabinetmaker's Director in May 1754 and hIs work was certainly familiar to the world of Jane Austen. He is the most famous of all Georgian-era furniture designers. But his original drawings have never before been published.
Our edition reproduces Chippendale's original pen-and-ink drawings for the first time under the editorial direction of Morrison Heckscher, Chairman Emeritus of the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It also features Chippendale's original text to accompany the drawings along with with essays by Mr. Heckscher, Met curator of prints and drawings, Femke Speelberg, and celebrated cabinet maker and Vice President of the Prince's Foundation, David Linley (The Earl of Snowdon).
This book was made possible by 25 private patrons and is not being offered on Kickstarter as the edition is set in a very very limited edition of only 150 copies (25 in full leather, 50 in half-leather, and 75 in half-cloth). While the full-leather edition is fully subscribed, a few half-leather and half-cloth copies remain for pre-publication subscription on our website at https://thornwillow.com/chippendale.
Thank you again for your support of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. We at the press are very proud to have seen this project come to a successful conclusion, and grateful as ever to our subscribers who make it possible for us to do what we love.
Thank you
Luke Ives Pontifell
PS: If you have any questions about your copy of Pride and Prejudice or about our work in general, do not hesitate to contact me directly at [email protected] or at the press at (845) 569-8883.
Photos from production + A new book with Henry Louis Gates Jr.
almost 7 years ago
– Tue, Apr 09, 2019 at 06:13:18 PM
Friends,
Shipping is fully underway. All paper wrapper and half-cloth copies will be shipped by Easter, and the production team has sent some new photos to share.
But first, this morning we announced a new book, Frederick Douglass: Portrait of a Free Man, by renowned historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. This book pairs Douglass' famous 1845 Narrative with essays by Gates and ten facsimile reproductions of portraits of Douglass. All-in-all, it's a book well-worth exploring, and we hope you'll join us once again!
A paper wrapper, unwrapped. You can see the impression, even from far away!
A paper wrapper copy, bound and beautiful.
The leaning tower of Pride and Prejudice.
These half-cloth copies just need to be signed and number, and then they're ready for shipping!
Only about sixty half-cloth to go!
Pride and Prejudice is Thornwillow's seventy-first book. It's the thickest by about a hundred pages!
Photos from production!
about 7 years ago
– Mon, Mar 11, 2019 at 03:48:52 PM
Friends,
We are so pleased to share with you some photos from our press floor and bindery. Pride and Prejudice is looking magnificent. Printing is nearly done. (The Heidelberg has been buzzing non-stop. It's a big book!) Bindery prep work is done and collating has begun. Soon, the books will be sewn, and will go to our binders for the last step.
As expected, we will begin to ship in April as copies come out of the bindery. You'll hear from us when the first copies ship, and will receive a tracking code when yours is out the door.
Before the photos, we want to be sure you are among the first to know about our new Patreon. We are building a marvelous community of collectors and connoisseurs to join us in a conversation about books, craft, and ideas. There are a number of tiers, starting at as little as $1 a month, which get you access to all sorts of wonderful digital content and advanced notice on our upcoming books. Today, we've put up a podcast episode of Luke in conversation with Pulitzer Prize winning biographer Edmund Morris. Check out the Patreon and join the conversation!
We've used laid paper for the first time on this edition. You can see (and feel) the quality.
Each book is printed one signature at a time. It takes a long, long time for even one book to stack up.
While the pressmen print, the binders prep what they need to bind the books. Here, the half-cloth boards have been prepared in advance.
And here, the clamshell boxes for leather copies have been prepped.
The next step is collation — putting the folded signatures in order to be sown. Our collation station is in the bindery. Pride and Prejudice has over FIFTY signatures — needless to say, the collation station has been expanded.
Some of the full-leather copies of Pride and Prejudice are bound with handmade marbled paper, made in our bindery. It takes weeks to get the chemistry of marbled paper just right!
More soon, and thanks again for your support! We can't wait for you to see the books.
TWP
ANNOUNCING: The Great Gatsby
about 7 years ago
– Mon, Feb 04, 2019 at 07:52:53 PM
Dear friends,
We have two exciting announcements. The first is that the Pride and Prejudice sketchbook pages are on press! Please see the photos from our pressmen below. The second is that, this morning, we launched our newest publication, THE GREAT GATSBY.
As always, the edition is printed letterpress, bound by hand, signed, numbered, and will include a list of subscribers. We have also introduced two new elements. First, the covers are made using genuine engraving, an incredibly intricate process with stunning results. Second, the half-cloth and paper copies are left uncut, as they would have been in Gatsby’s day. (In fact, Gatsby’s uncut books are used as a plot point in the novel.)
Here are some photos of Pride and Prejudice's sketchbook pages on press (specifically, on our Heidelberg Flatbed Cylinder Press):
Each page is printed letterpress; over the course of hours, the printed sheets stack up.
