More Rubáiyat News
I have been terribly negligent of this journal. What is worse, I have also neglected the journals of my friends. I am so sorry.
I'm hoping that, on the one hand, this entry will at last begin to re-awaken this journal; but on the other, I'm rather embarrassed that it should consist of another little parade...
Within a week of my first post here about the Rubáiyát, all 1,000 copies of the edition sold out. Altogether, I think it was within three weeks or a month of the book's announcement by the Folio Society. I was (and still am) astonished, humbled and enormously flattered.
But something else in relation to it did temper those feelings a little; just to ensure that my head had not inflated too far. I mentioned in that other entry that all the illustrations will be exhibited at the British Library. At any rate, I was told so. However, it turns out that each time the Production Director, Joe, spoke to the British Library, the number got reduced. It seems there is not enough space within the Folio Gallery there, especially since, apart from my illustrations, there'll be other things about the Rubáiyát itself on display. We got from all sixteen illustrations to ten or eight. Last week, I was informed that there will now be six. Four originals, and two to be enlarged on display panels. I was also asked to name a rough figure for the insurance of the artwork. I had never had occasion to think of such a thing before and had not the smallest idea of what seems appropriate, so Joe suggested £1,000 per illustration, which prompted yet further exclamations of amazement from me. He then went on to say that it would not be a bad idea, when the exhibition is over and all the dust has settled, for me to speak to a gallery like Chris Beetles about selling the originals, who could in all probability manage to sell them for me at a not dissimilar price (although I won't be getting all of it, naturally). He did add, however, that Mr Beetles was not always the most pleasant of gentlemen to deal with (simply in terms of temperament and personality), to which I confessed that I had heard as much. The Illustration Cupboard, whose exhibitions I'd visited a number of times myself, is altogether much more agreeable by many accounts.
These scans are of the brochure for the Rubáiyát, which the Folio Society sent to its members. Please click the thumbnails to enlarge and to see their descriptions. Images also enlarge further thereafter. I do apologise that some of the quality was lost through the images being resized. It's not too bad, but it accounts for the slight filmy blur, most evident in the text. But all is still perfectly legible.
Perhaps the most flattering things of all were Joe's words in the letter which accompanied the brochure:
I'll close with this wonderful series of slideshows of the binding process by the Fine Book Bindery, who bound the copies of this book for Folio. It's such a treat to see it being put together by real craftsmen who truly know their work. Friends who have already seen an earlier slideshow on dA may like to revisit this; it has been remade afresh, split into individual sections with extra pictures and detailed descriptions.
Next entry will have all the illustrations themselves.
I'm hoping that, on the one hand, this entry will at last begin to re-awaken this journal; but on the other, I'm rather embarrassed that it should consist of another little parade...
Within a week of my first post here about the Rubáiyát, all 1,000 copies of the edition sold out. Altogether, I think it was within three weeks or a month of the book's announcement by the Folio Society. I was (and still am) astonished, humbled and enormously flattered.
But something else in relation to it did temper those feelings a little; just to ensure that my head had not inflated too far. I mentioned in that other entry that all the illustrations will be exhibited at the British Library. At any rate, I was told so. However, it turns out that each time the Production Director, Joe, spoke to the British Library, the number got reduced. It seems there is not enough space within the Folio Gallery there, especially since, apart from my illustrations, there'll be other things about the Rubáiyát itself on display. We got from all sixteen illustrations to ten or eight. Last week, I was informed that there will now be six. Four originals, and two to be enlarged on display panels. I was also asked to name a rough figure for the insurance of the artwork. I had never had occasion to think of such a thing before and had not the smallest idea of what seems appropriate, so Joe suggested £1,000 per illustration, which prompted yet further exclamations of amazement from me. He then went on to say that it would not be a bad idea, when the exhibition is over and all the dust has settled, for me to speak to a gallery like Chris Beetles about selling the originals, who could in all probability manage to sell them for me at a not dissimilar price (although I won't be getting all of it, naturally). He did add, however, that Mr Beetles was not always the most pleasant of gentlemen to deal with (simply in terms of temperament and personality), to which I confessed that I had heard as much. The Illustration Cupboard, whose exhibitions I'd visited a number of times myself, is altogether much more agreeable by many accounts.
These scans are of the brochure for the Rubáiyát, which the Folio Society sent to its members. Please click the thumbnails to enlarge and to see their descriptions. Images also enlarge further thereafter. I do apologise that some of the quality was lost through the images being resized. It's not too bad, but it accounts for the slight filmy blur, most evident in the text. But all is still perfectly legible.
Perhaps the most flattering things of all were Joe's words in the letter which accompanied the brochure:
I'll close with this wonderful series of slideshows of the binding process by the Fine Book Bindery, who bound the copies of this book for Folio. It's such a treat to see it being put together by real craftsmen who truly know their work. Friends who have already seen an earlier slideshow on dA may like to revisit this; it has been remade afresh, split into individual sections with extra pictures and detailed descriptions.
Next entry will have all the illustrations themselves.