When we asked Allen Jones to work on Brave New World, he was intrigued. During his long and distinguished career, he had never before combined his imagery with a work of fiction. The book’s standing as one of the high points of twentieth-century English literature makes it an appropriate subject for an artist of his stature.

Allen has a lifetime's experience of drawing, painting, sculpture and print-making. For this project, he brought the layering techniques of his screen- and litho-prints to digital print-making. This too is a first for him, and he has been working with Leslie Gerry to make his vision ready for printing. He has made twenty-nine colour illustrations, four of which are double-page and one quad-page; all five will be tabbed in to open without a stitched gutter. There are also twenty-four black-and-white drawings in pen and ink.

There is an episode in the novel where two of the main characters leave civilisation as they know it. He has marked it with a twelve-page section consisting solely of die-cut, colour images that carry the viewer along with them.

The bindings have occupied Allen and Richard Tong for a considerable amount of time. Rich says of them “Allen has provided a huge number of paintings and drawings for this edition, many of them very bright and colourful, and it has been my job to try and create bindings that work in harmony. This will be a very cool book and one that is extremely rich with artwork.”

At present, Brave New World will be published in two states, Roman and Numbered. The size of both will be announced after registration for Patron's Rights closes on 18 May. We are also working on a spectacular Artist's Edition that will be available at a later date.

The Roman Edition will be signed by Allen Jones and the text letterpress printed in two colours on Liber Charta 170 gsm paper by Phil Abel and Robert Hetherington at Hand & Eye Editions. The images will be printed by Hand & Eye and Empress Litho. It will have 302 pages, 230 x 170 mm. Binding will be by Richard Tong at Ludlow Bookbinders.

It will be half-bradel bound in dark orange and yellow goatskin with Allen’s artwork foil-blocked on the front board in five passes.

It will be accompanied by a cloth-covered and foil-blocked portfolio of five signed prints.

Book and portfolio will be housed in a solander box that is full-bound in navy-blue goatskin and foil-blocked in two passes on the front board. Its trays are covered with Colorado book cloth and lined with Suedel.

The price of the Roman Edition will be £2250.00 exclusive of shipping. It will be available to Areté Patrons for pre-order from 5pm UK time on 19 May, and for general pre-sale from 5pm UK time on 31 May.

The Numbered Edition page is here.