KINGSTON ANIMATION PRIZE 2017 - Life and Fate
The second place for this year’s prize was awarded to Life and Fate.
The judges said: ‘The drawing was brilliant. The thought that had gone into how figures
were highlighted paid off fantastically. The film was sympathetic to the
text, themes and characters. It was moving… a hard thing to pull off in
such a short passage of film. Genius.’
We’ll be posting each of the animations this week or go to the Vintage Books YouTube channel to see them all now.


ARNOLD BENNETT
Vintage Books brings out this week in its Classics series two novels by Arnold Bennett: Anna of the Five Towns and The Grand Babylon Hotel. They join the previously published The Old Wives’ Tale and Clayhanger.
The Grand Babylon Hotel is a rollicking murder mystery set in a London hotel, whilst the other three titles are set in The Potteries district and draw on the author’s experiences of growing up in the second half of the nineteenth century in Staffordshire. These three novels all feature drawings for the design of porcelain and creamware from the time in which the novels are set.
KINGSTON ANIMATION PRIZE 2017 - Doctor Zhivago
Last month we had the pleasure of seeing the entries for the Kingston Animation Prize 2017. Final year students from Kingston University were divided into six teams and each tackled a title from our Vintage Russian Classics series. The results were fantastic and each film very different and inspiring, so the judges faced a tough choice.
The winning animation was Doctor Zhivago. The judges said: ‘Wonderful characterisation, colours and sound. Conveys the look and tones of the book cover beautifully and more than doffs its hat at the aesthetic of vintage animation - it feels very tactile, honest and timeless… you could almost imagine it on 60s Russian TV at 3am in the morning. Clever parallel-ish editing and lovely movement throughout - great start and end frames too.’
We’ll be posting each of the animations this week or go to the Vintage Books YouTube channel to see them all now


BAD DREAMS - Tessa Hadley
Bad Dreams shows yet again that Tessa Hadley is a master of her art, one of the very finest writers at work in Britain today.
This new collection of short stories sees the ordinary become the most extraordinary. Small acts have large consequences, and some of them reverberate across decades; things fantasised in private can reach out to affect other people, for better and worse. The real things that happen to people, the accidents that befall them, are every bit as mysterious as their longings and their dreams.
The cover design incorporates a photograph by Marat Safin from Gallery Stock and has been given an unusual crop to echo the unease in many of the stories.
We have also redesigned Tessa’s backlist to match this look with many of the titles available now, and others due for publication soon.
ANNE BRONTË
The forgotten Brontë sister, overshadowed by her older siblings - virtuous, successful Charlotte, free-spirited Emily and dissolute Branwell. Tragic, virginal, sweet, stoic, selfless Anne. The less talented Brontë, the other Brontë. Or so life-long Emily and Wuthering Heights devotee Samantha Ellis thought until she began looking more closely at Emily and Charlotte and instead found herself confronted by Anne.
Take Courage is Samantha Ellis’s personal and surprising journey
into the life and work of a woman sidelined by history. A brave,
strongly feminist writer well ahead of her time who has much to teach us today about how to find our way in the world.
Take Courage by Samantha Ellis is published alongside beautiful new Vintage Classics editions of Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
Our new Vintage Classics editions were illustrated by Júlia Sardà and you can see more of her work here.
H. G. WELLS SERIES
Steven Wilson has illustrated the new Vintage Classics H.G. Wells to be
bright, colourful, eye-catching series. The Time Machine has the added bonus of being the latest addition our 3D list - glasses supplied
TIDINGS: A Christmas Journey - Ruth Padel
Here’s a taster of Ruth Padel’s enchanting Christmas narrative poem, Tidings. Find out more about the cover story in our next post. In the meantime catch up with Ruth Padel and Jeanette Winterson in our Vintage podcast.
JEANETTE WINTERSON – Christmas Days
Everybody loves a Christmas story. The tradition of the Twelve Days of
Christmas is a tradition of celebration, sharing and giving. And what
better way to do that than with a story?
Read these stories by
the fire, in the snow, travelling home for the holidays. Give them to
friends, wrap them up for someone you love, read them aloud, read them
alone, read them together. Enjoy the season of peace and goodwill,
mystery, and a little bit of magic.
There are ghosts here and jovial spirits. Chances at love and tricks with time.
There
is frost and icicles, mistletoe and sledges. There’s a cat and a dog
and a solid silver frog. There’s a Christmas cracker with a surprising
gift inside.
There’s a haunted house and a SnowMama. There are Yuletides and holly wreaths. Three Kings. And a merry little Christmas time.
And
for the icing on the Christmas cake, there are twelve festive recipes
from Yuletides past and present. Red cabbage, gravlax, turkey biryani,
sherry trifle, Mrs Winterson’s mince pies and more.
Beautifully illustrated by Katie Scott and designed within CMYK, Christmas Days is the perfect festive gift.
JEANETTE WINTERSON - Christmas Days
Get in the Christmas spirit with twelve festive tales from Jeanette, and get cooking with her twelve seasonal recipes. Find out more about the cover story in our next post. In the meantime catch up with Jeanette and Ruth Padel in our Vintage podcast.
Dutch Graphic Design - Hansje
van Halem and Michiel Schuurman
We were fortunate enough to receive a visit from Dutch graphic designers Hansje van Halem and Michiel Schuurman last week.
Since graduating 13 years ago Hansje has worked independently, running her own studio where she creates visually arresting patterns, textures and typography that often trick the eye. Hanje brought along a copy of Sketchbook, a collection of her commissioned, rejected and unused pieces. The book truly shows the breadth of her work and she continues to draw further inspiration from it for future projects.
Michiel works as a print designer for Dutch wax textile company Vlisco, but also enjoys pushing boundaries within his personal work - merging rich colours to produce psychedelic, eye bending patterns and lettering on posters.
ABSOLUTELY ON MUSIC - Murakami & Ozawa
A large circle sits at the centre of the cover and it is a motif that has become an
identifiable part of the branding of Murakami’s covers. The circle cuts through the staves of a blank music sheet. The cover is given extra depth by the author name, title and staves being foiled in bronze. On either side of the circle sit two illustrations of birds by American painter John James Audubon. They look like they are in discussion and represent Ozawa and Murakami.
To celebrate the publication of Absolutely on Music, Vintage hosted an exclusive live recording of its Vintage Podcast at Spiritland in King’s Cross, London. The Vintage Podcast recorded live at the session is available online today - 15 November – to mark publication day. Visit Sound Cloud, iTunes or Acast to listen.
The line-up featured: James Rhodes, renowned concert pianist and author; Jeremy Warmsley, one half of the band Summer Camp; Suzanne Dean, Creative Director at Vintage and Murakami’s UK cover designer; John Mitchinson, Murakami’s former publisher and publisher at Unbound; Liz Foley, Murakami’s UK Publisher at Harvill Secker, and Alex Clark, journalist and broadcaster.
Absolutely on Music is published by Harvill Secker and is out 17th November
Vintage Russian Classics Series
In early 2017, Vintage will publish a set of 6 newly designed books by authors at the forefront of classic Russian literature. Having existed in many formats over the years, the new editions needed an enticing new approach. The design needed to evoke the essence of the novels - giving a sense of era and place, but also feel fresh and contemporary.
The novels are set in both post and pre-revolutionary Russia, and the series design reflects this. There was a wide breadth of styles to reference - from the more traditional embroideries of flowers, to the geometric designs of Soviet Russia by Stepanova and Popova. Inspiration also came from the beautiful designs of the Russian Avant-garde Theatre and Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes as well as Russian graphics.
During the research process it became increasingly evident that pattern mixing features heavily in traditional Russian dress, so the idea of assembling a mix of patterns seemed to develop naturally. Russian textiles would allow for the incorporation of pattern into the design to bring a sense of the time period they are set in without being narrative. The mix of textiles conjures both pre and post-revolutionary Russia in the design of Doctor Zhivago. An initial idea involved placing an elaborate old label on the fabric layout of Anna Karenina. Surprisingly it worked, and informed the design of the other labels.
Collectively the series is cohesive and visually arresting, while still retaining the personality and sense of each title. Nearly all of the textiles used in the cover designs come from the collection of Susan Meller, author and founder of The Design Library, New York.
Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, Doctor Zhivago, Life and Fate, The Master and Margarita and War and Peace are published by Vintage books in January.
THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF SAKI
Born in Burma in 1870 and educated in England, H. H. Munro began his writing career as a journalist and foreign correspondent but later turned to writing fiction – predominantly short stories for which he is best remembered. He joined the army aged forty-three and was killed in France by a German sniper. Today marks the 100th anniversary of his death.
Saki’s stories are macabre, funny and full of twists and we commissioned Thomas Danthony to illustrate this open window, where not all is as it seems.
THE PAPERCLIP TEST - Mario Gmür
Learn something new about yourself today with this entertaining and enlightening personality test. Using the humblest of objects - a bent paperclip - The Paperclip Test will pick the lock of your psyche.
Find out which paperclip type you are: Introvert, Optimist Seducer, Anarchist, Warrior or something else entirely…?
The Paperclip Test is published by Square Peg and you can download a test sheet here.
