Venice is at last back from the binders, having been on the press for most of 2015. The 80 wood-engravings, and some linocuts, some with colour, have made the book a printer’s challenge. John Craig’s use of white space has, as with Britten’s Aldeburgh (2000) and The Locks of the Oxford Canal (1985), been critical, and the asymmetric imposition of type and images is based upon his precise layouts. The resulting double-page spreads can be seen almost as a series of stage sets, introducing us to the often undiscovered delights of a city which he has visited regularly for the past twenty years.Venice is at last back from the binders, having been on the press for most of 2015. The 80 wood-engravings, and some linocuts, some with colour, have made the book a printer’s challenge. John Craig’s use of white space has, as with Britten’s Aldeburgh (2000) and The Locks of the Oxford Canal (1985), been critical, and the asymmetric imposition of type and images is based upon his precise layouts. The resulting double-page spreads can be seen almost as a series of stage sets, introducing us to the often undiscovered delights of a city which he has visited regularly for the past twenty years.
The French-fold binding style is a new departure for us. The pages are left folded at the top edge, enabling us to use a lightweight Zerkall mould-made paper, specially hot-pressed to give an extra sheen for the engravings, and allowing us to print throughout on the smooth side of the paper only. The book, all copies of which are bound in leather, opens beautifully. Four of the engravings are printed in colour on lightweight Korean and Japanese hand-made papers, and tipped in.

The book comes in three editions, the C edition of which is available here:

150 copies are quarter-bound in dark brown Pirate* leather, with printed paper sides, lightweight boards, and coloured endpapers, in a slipcase. £235 (£195 before publication)
50 copies are half-bound in Oasis leather and printed paper sides, coloured endpapers, and a set of proofs of many of the engravings, on proofing paper, in a slipcase. £395 (£365 before publication)
40 copies are full bound in black Oasis leather inlaid to a design by John Craig, coloured endpapers, and a set of signed prints of most of the engravings, on proofing paper, in a solander box. £1100 (£950 before publication) SOLD OUT

*Pirate leather is another new departure for us, with an interestingly unsophisticated but smooth, dark finish.