Newsletter October 2021

Huorns, from A Tolkien Bestiary

Just as those leaves are falling off the trees Ian Miller has found a beautiful original drawing from A Tolkien Bestiary - of those Huorns, perhaps even more special than the Ents. Somehow it had been overlooked until now but it's a rare find because the book is the definitive one on the subject and includes many of Ian's best-known images, all of which are now sold except this one. It's a beautiful and complex ink drawing, 14.5 by 9.5 inches. If you're interested just contact me.

Here you can see the actual drawing, and below that a detail.

We were sorry to miss Illuxcon this time as we'd have loved to catch up with friends. It sounds as if it was a great success, again, so congratulations to all those involved. For anyone looking for John Harris news, I now have this rather handsome cover for a new book by Anya Ow to be published by Rebellion next year.

We call it Rust and Steam and we sell prints here.

We also plan to sell prints of his painting of Shai Hulud so let me know if you're interested in that.

It was fabulous to be able to show the limited edition of The Divine Comedy, illustrated by Neil Packer and published by the Folio Society, at his exhibition in London last week but you'll be disappointed if you had your eye on it as the whole edition sold out in two weeks . . .

In Harry Potter news, we're delighted to hear that the exhibition first shown at the British Library has now travelled to Japan. At the moment it's in Kobe, and soon it will be in Tokyo. It includes work by Jim Kay and Olivia Lomenech Gill and when it was in London it was hugely popular. The book of the show is still available (in English) and I think it will be available in Japanese too.

And there's more. The current exhibition at the London Natural History Museum also includes paintings by both Jim Kay and Olivia Lomenech Gill. It draws mainly on the museum's fabulous collection on the history of beasts, and also includes Harry Potter material supplied by Warner Brothers.

This coloured etching of the Ramora, by Olivia, is a great piece.

Olivia has also illustrated Jessie Burton's retelling of Medusa and the book is published this week. 'A dazzling, feminist retelling of Greek myth from the internationally bestselling author of The Miniaturist, stunningly illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill.'

'A beautiful and profound retelling' - Madeline Miller