A title from The Old School Press

The Fruits of Jane Austen

Ten extracts from Jane Austen's letters and novels with eight wood-engravings by Simon Brett

About the book

Out of print

Ten extracts from Jane Austen's letters and novels that mention different fruits, with eight wood-engravings by Simon Brett.

About the edition

135 copies printed during the summer of 1993. Hand-set in 14pt Caslon Old Style. Printed on 200gsm Fabriano Artistico (100% cotton). Some titles in Union Pearl. End-papers of 160gsm Goatskin Parchment. Covers in Claire Maziarczyk’s Sun Shower paste paper. Quarter bound by Rachel James in sky-blue cloth with a spine label in 14pt Caslon italic on Zerkall antik-jutemeliert rauh mould-made. Copies 20-29 sold as sheets for binders. Six out-of-series copies were done for the copyright libraries. Bound copies £39. Sheets £10.

The story

I had had it in mind to do an anthology of such extracts for a while. We met Simon Brett at an exhibition of his work that we went to, and off the cuff I asked him if the subject was one that he felt he might like to illustrate. Subsequently we agreed a budget and I sent him the texts I planned to print. The edition was signed on 7th November 1993. I had half the edition bound by Rachel James at first to save initial outlay.

Caslon was an easy decision and gave me the excuse to buy a stock from Stephenson Blake (though when I decided later I was low on 14pt caps I discovered they had sold out and were now operating their policy of only recasting if there was sufficient demand for 20 founts.). I had brought back some Monotype 18pt Caslon italic from the ATF meeting in Williamsburg in July 1992 and I bought some SB Union Pearl for the title.

I had decided on the paste paper from Claire Maziarczyk’s sample book which Clare Bolton had provided me with. Subsequently Clare and Claire came and stayed with us when they had a stand at the Bound to be Good conference in Bristol that summer.

The Fabriano was not an ideal choice. It is a beautiful paper, but too hard I thought for the type and the wood-engravings, both of which would have been better served by a softer paper. A full page of the Caslon was about the most that the C&P would take if I wanted to get any sort of impression.