All right, Austen Nation, are you ready to do an awesome deed? Make some fellow book nerds’ days? Maybe wallpaper your home with beautiful handmade Austenian paper goods? Dare I say it…CROWDSOURCE?
(Ick. “Crowdsource.” Sorry.)
Whatever. Jarrett Morrison of The Bowler Press and Alanna Simenson of the Mad Hatter Book Binding Co. are raising $20,000 to fund their project of hand-setting a new letterpress edition of Pride and Prejudice—the whole thing, 138 copies, three volumes each, entirely produced by hand. Let’s just say…that’s a lot of letters to press.
Got $2 to give? They’ll love you forever. $50? They’ll send you a copy of the first page for your framing/gazing-at pleasure. And if you’re one of those lucky folks with a spare $2,950 lying around, they’ll happily send you one of twenty-four deluxe editions of the novel, bound in full bookcalf (here I nod with deep understanding, pretending to know what that means). Help ‘em out! You might get a super awesome bookmark out of the deal, and you’ll help spread the gifts of 1) Jane and 2) beautiful bookcraft!
(Seriously, if anybody buys the actual books, do let us know. We want to interview you. By which we mean come over to your house and invade your space and hover over your practically priceless new literary work of art. Without drooling, because that would be bad for the books. So….call us!)
In any case, you’ll want to watch the video, especially if phrases like “hand-carved woodcut illustrations” and “multicolored frontispiece” and “matching slipcase” get your motor running. (Have we ever told you, dear readers, that the Beloved Sisters met in publishing?) There’s a whole lot of coolness happening here, and you should check it out. JANE WOULD. THERE, I SAID IT.
Have at it, people!
