C.C. Askew of Sekretcity International

C.C. Askew first came to my attention as the illustrator of the be-monocled portrait of Mikhail Bulgakov in "The Master in Cafe Morphine: An Homage".   While poking around on the internet today I discovered his blog and this lovely cover artwork for J.M. Coetzee's "Waiting for the Barbarians":

And another book cover, this for the Ukrainian poetess Iryna Shuvalova:

Askew has also been featured in both Coilhouse and in N-Sphere. Please visit his blog and his website to view more of his artwork - it is quite striking!

Not too early for the Halloween Season, is it?

Earthling Publications is a fine press publisher specializing in "exceptional horror, dark fantasy and suspense".  Naturally this piqued my interest as it's my favorite literary genre, so I dove in to see what was what.  One of the first books I came across was China Mieville's first novel, King Rat, pictured below: illustrated by Richard Kirk, bound in bonded leather, slipcased, and signed by Mieville.  Tho, sadly, no longer available (although I managed to get my mitts on a copy).

King Rat by China Mieville

This certainly bodes well!  However, this particular blog post is not intended to focus on their everyday, run-of-the-mill fabulously custom bound and beautifully illustrated selections.  (We'll get to those another day.) This post is about Halloween.  Because, not only does Earthling Publications specialize in horror on a daily basis, they also have an ultra-special Halloween series of finely bound books.

Below, Mr Dark's Carnival, 2004 - which sold out immediately:

Ticket artwork embedded in cover

French Marbled Endpapers

From the site:  "This book is an ultra-limited hardcover edition of Glen Hirshberg's haunted house novella MR. DARK'S CARNIVAL, featuring an introduction by Glen, original art by Deena Warner featured on the front board of each book, fine leather and Japanese cloth binding, French endsheets (black and orange), and slipcased. Entirely handmade."

Wow.  After this, Earthling Books has published one outstanding book each Halloween. Again from the site: "This series of books celebrates publisher Paul Miller's favorite holiday. Each October, as the air turns colder and leaves fall off the trees, Earthling will release one novel of flat-out horror, usually featuring classic terrors such as monsters and haunted houses rather than psychological suspense or real-life horrors."

Below, cover artwork for The Haunted Forest Tour (Halloween 2007). A novel by James A. Moore and Jeff Strand.  Cover and interior art by Glenn Chadbourne.

The combination of extraordinarily spooky stories, original artwork and custom binding makes for a wonderful set of collectors items.  Currently available for Halloween 2011: By Wizard Oak, a novel by Peter Crowther, with artwork by Glenn Chadbourne.

And pre-orders are being accepted for the next volume in the series, Blood Harvest by James A Moore.

All of the Halloween publications are issued as limited-run, hardbound, illustrated and slipcased or traycased editions.  It's evident how much care is taken with these - Mr. Miller's dedication to the genre shines clearly.

I know I'm getting into the Halloween spirit already.  (What, it's only two months away!  That's not too soon!)  And I am definitely looking forward to diving into one of these for Castle Macabre's Frightful Fall read-a-thon.  Possibly more than one. Oh yes, I love this season!

Lavish Bookbinding by Monique Lallier

While browsing my usual online book haunts, I came across this 1931 Metropolitan Museum publication that had been re-bound "in full black morocco with tan morocco onlays on front and rear cut in the silhouette of a city skyline" by one Monique Lallier.  I hadn't come across her work yet so I thought I'd better do a little further investigation.

Metropolitan Museum

I was thrilled to discover she is a contemporary artist that is still creating and teaching.  From her website:  "Monique Lallier is an internationally recognized book binder & book artist. She began her studies in the 1960s in Montreal at Cotnoir Cappone School of Fashion & L'Art de la Reliure book binding school with Simone B. Roy. She continuued on to Paris, with Roger Arnoult, Centro Del Bel Libro in Ascona, with Edwin Heim and Solothurn, Switzerland with Hugo Peller. Moniques' work may be found in the collections of: McGill University, Montreal, St. Joseph Oratory in Montreal for the Pope Jean- Paul II, Louisiana State University, University of North Carolina, as well as many private collections in USA, Canada, Europe and Japan."

Femme Revee. Box with hand fabricated silver corners and center piece. UNCG, Jackson Library special collection.

The sampling of book bindings available for view at her website is incredible.  I've selected a few to display but there are so many more!  Two images on the first page honor the beautiful Jacqueline Kennedy, both the book pictured below and a box designed to reflect a dress of her fashion:

Jacqueline Kennedy

Below:  "The Knell of Cock Robin. Full leather black morocco French technique binding with an agath inlaid in a relief pattern. The front cover opens to reveal a forest made with Japanese papers. Embroidered endbands. Gold titling on the spine. Full leather pull-up box with red leather onlay. Bound in 1994."

The Knell of Cock Robin

"Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare, designed and produced by Ronald King. Circle Press Publications 1979. Copy A.P. XXXI/XL. Full purple goat skin with hinged flap on the front board with silver leather inside, held closed by a snake clasp. Graphite top edge. Edge to edge doublures and fly leaves. Bound in 1988."

Antony and Cleopatra

Monique Lallier is currently still teaching, both privately and for the American Academy of Bookbinding. You can view more of her creations at her website, Monique Lallier.

*All images and quotations above are property of Monique Lallier's website, all rights reserved..

The Master in Cafe Morphine: An Homage to Mikhail Bulgakov

Finally! At long last! My one luxury purchase of the year has finally arrived:

The Master in Cafe Morphine: An Homage to Mikhail Bulgakov

This limited edition was published in June of this year by Ex Occidente Press, out of Bucharest.  I am the proud owner of copy #37 of 100.  

The Master in Café Morphine: A Homage to Mikhail Bulgakov is an over-sized sewn hardcover book of 363 pages with endpapers, a full-colour frontispiece and a dust-jacket. Deluxe cloth boards with folio. Edition limited to 100 copies."

Edited by Dan T. Ghetu, this homage to one of Soviet Russia's most well-known author and playwright contains twenty-one original stories.  Contributing authors include Allyson Bird, Adam Golaski, Rhys Hughes, and more.







Bulgakov is best known for his world-renowned masterpiece "The Master and Margarita", which was published posthumously by his widow in 1966 and remains one of my all-time favorite novels.

This monocled portrait above was created by C. C. Askew of the Eternal Sekret City.

The paper stock is gloriously heavy and smooth. The font is Elegant Garamond in size 10.5. 






If I have one criticism, it's about the paper stock used for the dustjacket.  It's heavily textured, which I think distracts from the incredible jacket artwork created by artist Santiago Caruso.  You can see a large image of the original artwork here.  It's a fairly minor flaw, though.  The jacket is gorgeous and the imagery beautifully represents Bulgakov's themes.  And this interpretation of the Cat is just fantastic.

And now I think I shall settle into my big oversized reading chair and begin to read this eagerly-anticipated volume. Until later.....

Punch & Judy: Modern Interpretations part 2

Always on the look-out for Punch & Judy references, I happened to stumble across this interesting work from Circle Press:

"The Left-Handed Punch".  Artwork by Ronald King, in collaboration with poet Roy Fisher. Guildford, 1986 (out of print).   A somewhat more abstract take on the tradition.

Image from The Left-Handed Punch

From the website:  "The fifth collaboration of artist and poet in a modern version of the Punch & Judy drama. Entirely screen printed with the exception of the introduction, titles and colophon, which were printed letter-press in 14 pt Baskerville. 80 signed copies made up of ten 4 pp French-folded sections – 38 x 28 cm on Somerset mould-made paper. The six scenes and epilogue (which include 12 articulated puppet designs) are held in paper folders within a red cloth-covered folder inserted into a hand-printed striped cloth slip-case." 

Image from The Left-Handed Punch

Image from Anansi Company

Ronald King and Roy Fisher have collaborated on many interesting and colorful publications.  On a related (puppet-ish)  theme, "Anansi Company" is a modern rendering of the folk tradition of Anansi the Spider, and includes "screen printed removable wire and card puppets":


Very interesting publications- I am quite pleased that I found them.

About the press:  "CIRCLE PRESS, formed by Ron King in 1967, is both part of a tradition and a breaker of tradition. The stages of its life are marked not only by the individual natures of those whose books and prints it has published but also by the differing character of the decades through which it has passed. The Press has been highly productive for over forty years and has had a profound effect, directly and indirectly, on other artists working with books, for it has provided a continuity and a context against which such activity can be measured, even for those whose output and philosophy are utterly different or even opposed."

'Heart of Darkness' - Deep Wood Press

Take a look at this beautiful edition of Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness', illustrated by Marc Castelli:

Published by Deep Wood Press, this book won the University of Texas's Carl Hertzog Award for Excellence in Book Design, 2010, and it's easy to see why.  The binding is richly textured and beautifully detailed:

"Full goatskin binding with calf onlays in debossed panels depicting images from within the book. Enclosed in a drop spine box with an extra folio of prints from the book."

The illustrator is Marc Castelli., an artist who's life and work has been steeped in maritime culture.  His lifetime love of boats and the water clearly made him a perfect choice for illustrating this classic novel.

~ "Published with 36 original drawings by renowned maritine artist Marc Castelli, this limited edition of Heart of Darkness summons us to listen to Marlow's story which echoes even today."



The publication was a collaboration between Deep Wood Press and Chester River Press.  More information and more detailed images of the book can be seen at this Deep Wood Press page.

For those who haven't read it (and no, watching 'Apocalypse Now' doesn't quite count), here is more about the book from Deep Wood's page:

"Joseph Conrad's masterpiece, Heart of Darkness, continues to ignite the interest of readers and literary scholars alike.

The simple story of a sea-captain hired by Belgian colonial ivory merchants to search the Congo River for a disaffected company employee turned pathological demigod becomes as deeply a sympolic and frightening descent into the maelstrom of moral consequence as Dante's expedition through Hell.

If there is a moral compass to be discovered within its pages it is to be found spinning between the cardinal points of avarice, genocide, values and conscience as Marlow steams deeper into the darkness of the jungle and the core of the human psyche in his search for the enigmatic Kurtz."

A Graphic Interlude

Thanks to Mad Hatter for the heads-up on this one: Mike Mignola's very impressive cover art for the upcoming graphic novel 'Joe Golem and the Drowning City': (You can pop over to their post for a larger / more detailed look)

Mignola is one of my long-time favorite illustrators.  I have his 2008 HPLovecraft Film Festival poster framed and hung prominently in my house:

Hm, yes, ok, a bit of theme there.  Still, I am very much looking forward to this release.  Details (filched verbatim from Mad Hatter, again, many thanks):

Here is the pitch that originally sold the book, which gives us a bit more color:

A supernatural-steampunk illustrated novel following an orphaned teenage girl, an aging conjurer, a lunatic scientist, a Victorian occult detective, and the stalwart sidekick, Joe Golem, as they struggle for the fate of an alternate 1970s Lower Manhattan, which sank into the water during a catastrophe in 1925, leaving those unwilling or unable to abandon it to make a new life in streets turned to canals.

Joe Golem and the Drowning City, will be released March 27th, 2012 from St. Martin's with at least one sequel to follow. Mignola will be doing about 100 pieces of art of the interior as well. Mark down another 2012 book for your to-procure list.