Re-Dressing the Classics

How fortunate for me that the 2012 Kidlitosphere Conference was held here in NYC.  On the agenda for was a pre-conference trip to Penguin publishers, where we heard from the editors of the various imprints, including Viking, Dutton, Putnam's, Philomel, and Razorbill. The icing on the cake was was the presentation by Penguin's art department, where they presented the process of designing the books' jackets.  I hadn't realized that negotiating a final book cover can go through as many as 50 versions, before the team selects the "right" one?

We--librarian/bloggers--were treated to a show-and-tell of classic titles that Penguin has enticingly repackaged.  Printing classic titles is a relatively economical enterprise for publishers, on account of the texts' placement in the public domain.  At a time when such titles are widely available for free in electronic format, the publisher must come up with a design that is so irresistible that one wants to own it in its physical form.  Well, I'd say they have succeeded in making this reader covet some of them.

Here's a taste of the display (below):

Penguin Threads designed by Jillian Tamaki (some of which I featured here back in November 2011), were painstakingly embroidered by hand in prototype.

Penguin Ink (tattoo art style):

Illus.  Robert Ryan

Illus.  Jen Mumford

Clothbound childrens' classics re-outfitted by designer Coralee Bickford Smith:

The last specimens to be unveiled were the soon-to-be reissued children's classics, such as Pippi Longstocking and The Wizard of Oz, decked out in the bold signature chalkboard lettering by designer Dana Tanamachi.  You must wait to see these--

Books and Threads

Purl Soho--Emma, The Secret Garden, Black Beauty, Penguin Threads edition

Emma, jacket flap

Jane Austen, Emma

A display of books in the store windows of Purl SoHo, one of my favorite fabric and yarn shops, caught my eye as I walked by this weekend.  Apparently, Penguin books has just released three classic titles repackaged in new "Penguin Threads" editions, which, according to the website, "will appeal to the Etsy-loving world of handmade crafts." The cover designs were stitched by artist Jillian Tamaki, using needle and embroidery floss, and then reproduced in a final, embossed design. The underside of wraparound French flaps boldly and honestly reveal the underside (i.e., normally hidden side) of the stitching.


These designs connect to a genre of children's book art:  illustrations where needlework panels make up an entire picture.  A Pocketful of Posies, is an example that we recently acquired for our library.  Illustrated by Salley Mavor, this book is made up of page after delightful page of appliqued and embroidered scenes from nursery rhymes.  While researching Salley Mavor, I discovered that there currently is a traveling exhibit of the work that she made for the book.  You can learn more about Salley Mavor, her work, and her process on her Wee Folk Studio blog.

Pocketful of Posies by Salley Mavor,  Houghton Mifflin, 2011

Clare Beaton's Mother Goose Remembers is another collection of nursery rhymes, illustrated with felt, embroidery, vintage buttons, and beads.  The homespun, pastel images evoke a a cozy feeling of snuggling up to a lap reading of familiar rhymes.  

Clare Beaton, Mother Goose Remembers, Barefoot Books, 2000

Tô Ngoc Trang (illustrations), Pham Viêt Ðinh (embroidery)
Inspired by the embroideries made in the village of Quat Dong in Vietnam

Anna Grossnickle Hines, Pieces: A Year in Quilts,  Greenwillow Books, 2001

There's a huge body of children's literature around the subject of quilting.  But in Anna Grossnickle Hines' Pieces: A Year in Poems and Quilts, quilting is the medium for illustrating her poems on the theme of the seasons.  In the appendix, Hines describes her process of making quilts.