How to ... Make a Dragon Skin

June 18, 2026

When the Folio team had an idea for their ‘most ambitious cover to date’, they turned to their network of master craftspeople. The result is truly unique.

Marc Lamb is no stranger to a challenge, but even he was excited when Folio came calling last year with a very particular request: to recreate the skin of a mythical creature known for its size, its wings and its fire breathing.

Marc, of specialist tanners Harmatan and Oakridge Leathers, remembers the conversation well. ‘Folio’s Production Director, Kate Grimwade, called to say she was working on A Game of Thrones, book one of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and she made it very clear: “We need a leather that looks and feels like dragon skin.” But no one, as far as I know, has ever seen a dragon!’

The idea, it turned out, was to create a dragon skin cover for the book. ‘It just had to be,’ says Kate. ‘It’s simple and strong, with a touch of the medieval. We chose trusted craftspeople who we knew could make this limited edition something extraordinary, with the highest production values. Folio are fans, after all, and all our customers are fans. So we wanted to create an in-world experience for our community of obsessive A Game of Thrones fans.’

Next was a call to Paul Kidson of Ludlow Bookbinders. ‘I’ve worked with Folio since 2008,’ says Paul, ‘and it’s important that we have that shared passion. The skills we use need champions – without them they will be lost. So customers like Folio are vital. They trust us, and we trust them.’

“No one, as far as I know has ever seen a dragon!”

The team rose to the challenge. Harmatan proposed a bold, heavy grain called Giant Hornback for the embossing plate. The plate was pressed onto carefully chosen, vegetable-tanned leather in an unwieldy but delicate embossing process. ‘It takes two people to lift the plate onto a forklift and into position on the press,’ explains Marc, ‘and then the plate is heated. The embossing process is just 10 to 15 seconds – too short and the pattern isn’t deep enough, too long and the leather cracks and goes hard.’ Once embossed, each panel of leather is hand-finished with black dye to create the two-tone effect, then individually polished.

The cover is, however, just one part of the story. Inside, special handmade endpapers featuring a bespoke watermark and made with water and rag courtesy of the Paper Foundation run by Croppers, a papermaker in the Lake District. The watermark features a dragon created by illustrator Jonathan Burton, invisible until you shine a light through it.

‘The pièce de résistance is a limitation label of handmade paper, with hand-lettering commissioned from the artist Stephen Raw, blocked in 24 carat gold,’ says Kate. ‘The label was hand-delivered by a member of the Folio team to George R. R. Martin for signature, and one will be tipped into each book.’ The final book will be housed in a Solander box bound in metallic buckram and foil blocked with artwork by Jonathan Burton.

‘This has been a project of a lifetime,’ says Kate, ‘and is certainly the most ambitious limited edition Folio has produced to date.’

Words | Megan Welford
Photography | © Jon Aaron Green

LIMITED EDITION

A Game of Thrones

To mark the 30th anniversary of George R. R. Martin’s publishing phenomenon, A Game of Thrones, we're releasing 1,000 Limited Editions – each signed by the author himself. This is truly a Limited Edition worthy of the Iron Throne.

Launching 14th July 2026, 4pm (UK time)