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Beautiful Illustrations

‘It’s extraordinary – the quality and range of illustration that The Folio Society has commissioned’ – Quentin Blake.

The illustrations are one of the chief pleasures of the books, and they are so varied that it is hard to give a true impression of their range.

Every style of illustration imaginable, and every medium has been adopted, from wood-engravings, lino-cuts, etchings and collages to sketches, watercolours, pastels and gouache. How a book is illustrated depends absolutely upon its character; sometimes traditional methods of illustration are appropriate, at others a daring and original approach is needed.

1. Original Artwork:

New artists have begun their careers on Folio Society pages, well-known ones have delighted in unusual opportunities – Beryl Cook’s paintings for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, for example, or Quentin Blake’s drawings for Cold Comfort Farm. Charles van Sandwyk's illustrations for The Wind in the Willows perfectly capture Kenneth Grahame's memorable characters; Anna Bhushan's work for Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children so impressed the author he snapped up all the original drawings. Recognition also comes from further afield, with many of our illustrators winning awards internationally: Simon Pemberton for The Songlines; Jonathan Burton for Cover Her Face; Niroot Puttapipat for Myths and Legends of Russia; David Hughes for Count Belisarius; and Tatsuro Kiuchi for The Sea, The Sea.

2. Supporting Tradition:

Engraving, etching, lithograph and wood-cuts - these were once the epitome of fine editions. The Folio Society is the only mainstream publisher to regularly commission traditional artist-craftsmen who produce their own works using time-honoured techniques.

3. Preserving a Golden Age:

There are some illustrators who are so well-loved that to ignore their illustrations would be a crime. From William Blake to Arthur Rackham, these art-works are given new life in editions worthy of their merit. Whether the artist works in pencil or ink, paints in watercolour, oil, gouache or some other medium, we take the utmost care to ensure the highest possible quality of reproduction, and specify a variety of different papers to best suit the character of the work.

4. Bringing Non-fiction to Life

Our team of dedicated picture researchers seek out the most appropriate, illuminating and attractive images or if necessary commission new photography or maps. Many of the archive photography they discover has never previously been reproduced, while fine art reproductions are brought to new life in Folio books due to the care lavished on selecting the right paper and the detailed care of our colour-matching and printing processes. For our edition of Antony Beevor's Stalingrad, The Folio Society's Julie McMahon was named Picture Researcher of the Year in the Longman/History Today Awards for the rare photographs and German and Russian propaganda posters she was able to source.