Wolf Hall (signed by Hilary Mantel)

Hilary Mantel

Illustrated by Igor & Marina

Only 250 signed editions available

Please note one copy per customer

Signed by Hilary Mantel, this Folio Society edition of the Booker Prize-winning Wolf Hall is illustrated by world-renowned fine artists Igor and Marina.

$250.00
$250.00
‘As soon as I opened the book I was gripped. I read it almost non-stop. When I did put it down, I was full of regret that the story was over, a regret I still feel. This a wonderful and intelligently imagined retelling of a familiar tale from an unfamiliar angle.’
  1. The Times

 

England in the 1520s. Henry VIII is King; Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor and Thomas Cromwell is Wolsey’s right-hand man. But in Tudor England allegiances are tenuous and the King’s favour can change in a heartbeat. So, when Wolsey fails to secure Rome’s support for Henry’s longed-for divorce, his assets are seized, and his reputation ruined. Cromwell is well placed to step up to the King’s side, but can he exert any influence over the volatile monarch? The first in what is widely considered the greatest trilogy of the modern era, Wolf Hall is wildly ambitious, brilliantly written and utterly enthralling; cementing Hilary Mantel’s reputation as one of the greatest historical fiction writers. So eminent a novel requires the finest treatment reminiscent of the pomp and riches of the era, and this startling edition will be treasured for a lifetime. Award-winning artistic duo Igor and Marina have created 11 full-page pencil drawings of exceptionally fine detail, as well as a remarkable colour frontispiece and binding design featuring Cromwell.

An un-signed edition is available here.

Signed by Hilary Mantel

Bound in printed and blocked cloth

Set in Adobe Caslon

600 pages

Colour frontispiece and 11 full-page drawings, including a double-page spread

2 family trees

Ribbon marker

3 gilded edges

Plain endpapers

Plain slipcase

10˝ x 6¾˝

Igor Kozlovsky and Marina Sharapova are a husband-and-wife artistic duo influenced by Russian religious art and the Renaissance. Widely exhibited and highly sought after for commissions, their work is coveted by international collectors. The opulent period style and exacting detail that distinguishes their art perfectly aligns with the book, as demonstrated by the colour frontispiece depicting Wolsey and Cromwell at ease against a grandiose backdrop: an artwork of staggering accomplishment and beauty. This is joined by 11 delicate and detailed black-and-white pencil drawings, each capturing historical figures in revealing scenes from the novel. The artists also painted a captivating portrait of Cromwell, hidden gracefully in the ornate binding design, while a ribbon marker, family trees and sumptuous gold page-edges complete this spectacular collector’s edition.

‘ A compelling and humane investigation of the cost of ambition.’
  1. The Guardian

After 20 years of marriage, Henry decides that his vows are null and void and he has, in fact, been illegally wedded to his brother’s widow. However, the church proves harder to persuade and the King and his mistress – the wily and politically ambitious Anne Boleyn – must wait in limbo for his divorce to be granted. Mantel plunges the reader into the heart of this saga and places Thomas Cromwell at its centre. Ruthless, ambitious, charming and manipulative, Cromwell ran away from his abusive father at 14, inveigling himself into trades, households and offices all over Europe before returning to England to hold his own among aristocrats. In Mantel’s hands, the glamorous and contentious world of Tudor London fizzes with political intrigue and mystery; the narrative sings, full of shifting perspectives and disconcerting storytelling, making Wolf Hall the staggering literary achievement it is known as today.

British writer Dame Hilary Mantel was brought up in Derbyshire and Cheshire. She graduated in law from the University of Sheffield and later spent several years living in Jeddah and Botswana. She was the first woman to win the Booker Prize twice, firstly for her fictional account of Thomas Cromwell’s ascent to power, Wolf Hall, and secondly for its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies. The third book in her trilogy, The Mirror and the Light, was longlisted in 2020. The trilogy won Mantel worldwide renown, but long before her immersion in the world of Tudor England, she was regarded as one of Britain’s finest novelists, short story writers and cultural critics. With A Place of Greater Safety she first explored the potential of historical fiction, but she has ranged widely, publishing Gothic novels (Beyond Black) and a book set in contemporary Saudi Arabia, for example. Her many awards include the Walter Scott Prize, a National Book Critics Circle Award and the British Academy President’s Medal. Mantel’s most recent book, Mantel Pieces, collects her remarkable and incisive essays published in the London Review of Books over three decades.

Igor & Marina are a husband-and-wife team of artists and designers, Igor Kozlovsky and Marina Sharapova. Born in Russia, they were trained at the Mukhina Academy of Art and Design in St Petersburg and have lived in the United States since 1997; at present they are based in Chicago and represented by galleries in New York, San Francisco and London. Their work is deeply influenced by European Old Master painting and the Russian icon tradition; it often combines delicately rendered figures with heavily patterned and richly coloured abstract backgrounds. Igor & Marina have organised solo exhibitions across the United States and participated in group shows worldwide.

Loading...

You May Also Like

  1. Jane Eyre

    Jane Eyre

    Charlotte Brontë

    Illustrated by Santiago Caruso

    $75.00

    Illustrated by Santiago Caruso, our edition of Charlotte Brontë’s beloved novel celebrates its gothic undercurrents.

  2. Image of The Tudor Age book

    The Tudor Age

    Susan Brigden

    $125.00

    In The Tudor Age, historian Susan Brigden brings to life the world of Henry VIII, Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I in a Folio edition superbly illustrated with colour portraiture.

  3. The Six Wives of Henry VIII

    The Six Wives of Henry VIII is Antonia Fraser’s groundbreaking historical biography of England’s most famous royal consorts – a critically acclaimed international bestseller presented in a lavishly illustrated Folio edition.

  4. Bring Up the Bodies

    Bring Up the Bodies

    Hilary Mantel

    Illustrated by Igor & Marina

    $150.00

    Hilary Mantel’s monumental trilogy continues with Bring Up the Bodies. Published in series with Wolf Hall, this lavish Folio edition is illustrated by celebrated artists Igor & Marina.Â