One of the most exciting and yet daunting stages in the process of our book building is when we take over from an artist the blocks which we know have taken months if not years for him or her complete.
Recently, on the way to Glasgow for an all too rare visit to our four vivacious grandchildren (and their parents!) we drove through the beautiful Border country to see and and take some photographs of Angela Lemaire and eventually to take over from her three huge boxes of woodblocks.
These cannot be worked on for some time because of other books in the queue but I cannot resist posting one or two proofs because I think they are absolutely fine and I cannot wait to start work!
The book is . . .
A Christmas Sequence: chosen by Benjamin Britten from the Chester Mystery Cycle. With an Introduction by Dr. Andrew Plant and Woodcuts by Angela Lemaire.
In 1974, Britten worked on this powerful and finely structured text, designed to be the basis of a dramatic production along the lines of Noye’s Fludde. Sadly his ill-health prevented all but a tiny amount of musical composition for the project and the composer died in 1976. His ‘second draft’ will be printed here for the first time.
