st james park press
george orwell
NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR
Nineteen-Eighty-Four by George Orwell, published in 1949, was his last work, written shortly before his death in 1950. It presents a dystopian view of a country ruled by totalitarianism. The novel’s main protagonist, Winston Smith, attempts his own resistance against the Party, which rules with the figurehead, Big Brother.
the edition
type
The text is set in 12D Lutetia, regarded as classic, restrained and beautiful. It is the most famous face designed by Jan van Krimpen, the influential calligrapher, book and type designer.
Bordering the text is The Principles of Newspeak, the fictional language of Big Brother, printed across eight consecutive pages, repeated through the entirety of the book. As "the leading articles in the Times were written in" Newspeak, the border text is also set in Times, 8-pt italic (a face conceived by Stanley Morison in 1931). This often neglected ending to the novel is here imposed upon the reader, albeit subtly by virtue of the text size and being printed in light-grey. It is presented as both a footnote to the tale, as well as a constant reminder of the pervasiveness of language manipulation as a means to control.
Numerous handset wood and metal, foundry and monotype faces appear throughout the illustrations.
paper
The edition is printed on white 120gsm Zerkall ohne-Silurian mould-made paper. In addition, there are twenty-four sewn-in hand-made papers, on which the illustrations have been printed.
layout
The edition opens with the title page and frontispiece, a dizzying vortex displaying Winston's withered body, and beyond the title page, the bordering text slowly starts to reveal itself behind redacted lines, until the novel begins with the infamous first line.
An illustrative set of eyes is also present on every page-spread, embossed in each page, as a further form of invasion on the reader.
binding
Bound in elephant hide paper and an Indian hand-made paper specially commissioned for the book, in blood red. A blue headband. Housed in a red cloth solander box with letterpress printed details of the Artwork and Colophon pasted inside, printed on grey hand-made Khadi paper.
particulars
prelims, 343pp., illustrations, and end matter
page size 350mm (h) x 245mm (w)
(2021)
COLOPHON
This Oceanic artefact is the - two plus two equals - FIFTH book from the printing-shops of James Freemantle and Records Department of the St James Park Press (Airstrip One).
Of 70 copies printed on Zerkall ohne-Silurian paper, 59 copies have been designated as due for destruction in the nearest memory-hole, via distribution to Outer Party members. Inner Party members have been sent 11 special copies, to be burned. All copies are identifiable and traceable through allocation within the Chess Committee.
Within this book are twenty-four illustrated handmade papers, from the archives of Big Brother; weathered and aged, but survived intact. Ten contributing prole artists were identified from these. All are now under the care of Miniluv.
Three prole pressmen were involved in the printing of this volume: James Freemantle on an ALBION & other presses using handset wood, foundry and monotype, block, plate, ornaments, wood-engravings, linocuts, and the sole of a boot; John Grice, printing the main text in Oldspeak, on a FAG SWISS PROOF 40, in 12D Lutetia cast by N[ick] Gill; and Pat Randle, printing the border text in 8-pt Times Italic, on a HEIDELBERG SBB cylinder press. They have since been vaporized.
The edition was bound by a prole of some disrepute, Roger Grech, charged with crimethink, whose current whereabouts is: UNKNOWN
SAMPLE PAGE SPREADS
illustrations
Whilst many books employ illustrations that can be easily rendered via alternative printing methods, or by mass production, this edition specifically seeks to include an illustrative form that can only be presented in the most limited of means, as each illustration is printed by letterpress, using wood and metal types and ornaments, and on hand-made paper.
There are twenty-four sewn-in broadside posters, each printed one at a time by hand, on an Albion iron hand-press, limited in number. Each setting is then dismantled. The hand-made papers, many watermarked, include those from a range of paper mills no longer operating as well as those still making paper by hand.
These posters feature both representations of imagined posters that may exist in the world of the novel, or specific posters featured in the text of 1984, such as the very opening of the story, where the second paragraph starts:
‘The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a coloured poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted an enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features’.
In this manner, these illustrations immerse the reader into the story as real and tactile ephemera, inspired or from the events of the novel. In addition, as a result of the nature of the medium of letterpress, each poster in every copy is to an extent unique.
click to open
AN IN-DEPTH ESSAY ON THE INSPIRATIONS AND FEATURES OF ALL OF THESE ILLUSTRATIONS IS AVAILABLE HERE
THE FRONTISPIECE
BE A CHILD HERO
MINIPLENTY
JULIA
O'BRIEN
UNDERSTANDING
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU
TRIUMPH OF COMMAND
ECONOMY DRIVE
NOTICE BOARD
MINIPAX
ACCEPTANCE
click to open
SHORT-LIST OF HANDMADE PAPERS USED IN THE EDITION
GOLDSTEIN'S EASTASIA
VICTORY MANSIONS
AIRSTRIP ONE
EURASIAN SOLDIER
MINILUV
ROOM 101
(DOUBLE PAGE)
PUBLIC EXECUTION
ARTSEM
GOLDEN COUNTRY
MINITRUE
LEARNING
VICTORY STORES
release
awards
Fine Press Book Association Honorable Mention at the Manhattan Fine Press Fair 2023
'Golden Country' illustration chosen for exhibition at 84th Annual Society of Wood Engravers Exhibition
promotion
Minds of the Press, Vol. 11 (Collectible Book Vault, July 2023)
The Cover Design of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (David Dunnico, 2023)
1984 by St James Park Press (Collectible Book Vault, Dec 2023)
MANHATTAN FINE PRESS FAIR
HONORABLE MENTION, 2023
THE COVER DESIGN OF GEORGE ORWELL'S NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR
(DAVID DUNNICO)
SOCIETY OF WOOD ENGRAVERS
ANNUAL EXHIBITION
special edition
The edition, in a special leather binding; held in a solander box housing four further specially bound or boxed volumes, as follows;
I
A volume entitled, The illustrations for Nineteen Eighty-Four, printed on Silurian and white smooth Zerkall paper on an Albion Press, with a specially written monograph regarding the illustrations and illustrators for the edition; hand-painted illustrated end-papers unique to each copy, an illustration printed on paper hand-made at the St James Park Press with the SJPP watermark, and many of the featured artists’ illustrations, printed separately, also showing progressive plates;
click to open
AN IMAGE-FREE MODIFIED VERSION OF THE TEXT IS AVAILABLE HERE
Two example sets of the unique hand-painted end-papers that will be used in one volume of the Special Edition, by Jack Kitchen,
following the theme of his Room 101 illustration.
Specially commissioned marbled paper from Four Keys Book Arts, Canada, continuing the 'eye' motif of the novel, with Tiger Eye design, for the binding of this additional volume.
II
The twenty-four posters from the edition on handmade papers, all unbound; accompanied by the title page hand-printed on an Albion Press on genuine goatskin parchment; as well as four typographic posters featuring quotations from the novel, on heavier weight handmade papers not used in the edition, also printed on an Albion Press;
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FOUR ADDITIONAL POSTERS ON HANDMADE PAPERS FOR THE SPECIAL EDITION BOX SET
Specially commissioned repeat pattern paper from an original painting of the "eye" of David, for the binding of this additional volume.
III
A monograph discussing each of the handmade papers used in the edition, printed on an Albion Press on Zerkall Silurian paper; along with a collection of twenty-five of thirty-one handmade papers used in the special edition, preserved as full size (folded) sheets, showing all the relevant watermarks;
IV
A specimen page-spread, printed on an Albion Press on genuine sheepskin parchment.
subscription & release date
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