Cumbrian Alchemy Book

Cumbrian Alchemy
Robert Williams and Bryan McGovern Wilson

Designed by James Brook

ISBN 978 1 869979 39 3
Published by UniPress | University of Cumbria, 2013

Edited by Robert Williams
Photography by Robert Williams, Bryan McGovern Wilson and Sam Knight

Printed by Allander, Edinburgh, on Revive 100 recycled paper
Edition 1,000
96 pages with soft cover
210 x 245 mm

























From the Introduction by Robert Williams: Our final collaborator lies hidden within an object. Rather like Dr. Farrar of Orton, this most hermetic of our alchemists is concealed amongst the arrangements of text, image and page of what might be thought of variously as a field guide, a grimoire, a text-book, a narrative, a mythos, tractate or treatise. It may be considered unusual or unconventional to include our book designer as a major contributor to the project. However, James Brook’s role is pivotal in helping to both frame and contextualise this aspect of the project and the relationship that it has to each of its elements: the artwork, the research material, the discourse and its audience. We are grateful that a designer so renowned who is familiar with and sensitive to the needs of artists has added his voice to the discourse. He has compiled a fitting contextual frame for the project as a whole, one that can exist beyond the exhibition, as a separate but related entity.

Eight Blocks Or A Field Publication

Eight Blocks Or A Field
Kate Davis

Designed by James Brook

Edition of 500
Published by Temporary Gallery, Cologne, 2013
Publication supported by Creative Scotland and Kunstiftung NRW, Düsseldorf

Printed on Chromomatt and Colorplan Bright Red by Allander, Edinburgh
36 pages with soft cover
160 x 200 mm

Un Voyage en Mer

Un Voyage en Mer
Sharon Kivland

Translated by Sophie Leclercq

Designed by James Brook

Edition of 200
Published by Frac Bretagne, 2013
ISBN 978-2-906127-41-8
24 pages stapled
230 x 145 mm

Neuzeit, again

Serge Charchoune Book

Serge Charchoune
Merlin James

Designed by James Brook

Edition of 1,000
Published by Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh and The Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, 2013
Publication supported by Charlotte Artus, Artus Art, London

Printed by Allander, Edinburgh
80 pages with hard cover
210 x 148 mm

A book about the work of the Franco-Russian painter Serge Charchoune, which was published to coincide with an exhibition of Charchoune's work that was shown in Edinburgh and Chicago. The exhibition was curated by the Glasgow-based artist Merlin James, who was keen that the book mark a new level of scholarship around this under-researched figure, providing an in-depth critical analysis of Charchoune's career and documenting the exhibits in catalogue raisoneé detail. I developed a design based on the visual language of the catalogue raisoneé, that ordered Merlin James' extensive research for each painting in the exhibition in a rationalised and accessible manner. Two illustrated essays by Merlin James and Annick Morard contextualise Charchoune's work, and gave me the opportunity to develop a playful rhythm with the positioning of images within the text. The book was printed on Hello Silk and was casebound with a matt grey cover complete with Royal Blue endpapers, giving a sense of a book that was slightly out of time.