Dear supporter,
I thought I'd update you, as a previous supporter of my translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, about the fantastic new cover design for my forthcoming translation of the Alliterative Morte Arthure (due in September)
I know some supporters of Gawain have already seen this but, if you haven't, I simply had to share it with you. I am absolutely thrilled with the design, capturing what I see as the core essence of this magnificent fourteenth century work.
I think the designer himself (who worked on my last book) summed up the approach perfectly:
"We wanted to go darker than Gawain with this cover, and this print of a reflective Arthur, seemingly realising his fate and his mistakes, is perfect to meet that aim.Having looked at various print, type, and colour options, the whole team felt that this was the way to go. The black is the natural choice, anything else doesn’t have the gravitas or contrast. The type hints at historical without being blackletter or distressed, that little bit of personality in its form has the cleanliness of a sans serif, but links to the theme as well - we found that contrasting, modern typefaces seemed to jar with the illustration style."
I cannot add to this - they have done a wonderful job. I showed it to a friend of mine recently (a former board executive at the UK bookselling chain Waterstone's) and he described it as "a very striking cover". I couldn't agree more - the team at Unbound have done a fantastic job of condensing in one image the very spirit of this magnificent alliterative work.
The image, incidentally, is one of many which I produced to appear in the book; indeed, the original linocut is still available as a pledge option should anyone wish to own an extra special piece of this story!
Act now to be part of this exciting new edition
Thank you once again for supporting my translation of Sir Gawain and enabling it to happen.
If you have not done so already and would like to support my translation of Arthur (and have your name printed in the back as a patron), please do so by clicking on the link here while there is still time before the pledging list closes.
There are plenty of pledge options to choose from too, including some wonderful orginal linocut prints!
Wishing you all the very best for the coming year.
Michael Smith
Author, Translator, Printmaker
Contents of the Book:
The book will be a comprehensive volume on this magnificent poem, providing the reader with not only a translation but a complete understanding of the poem and the time in which it was written:
- Historical Introduction
- Summary of the Story
- Notes on Translation Methodology
- King Arthur's Death - the Alliterative Morte Arthure (4300 lines)
- Notes
- Glossary
- Further Reading
- Acknowledgements
- List of Patrons
- The book will also include 30 linocuts and illustrations by the author in addition to linocut illuminated letters corresponding in position with those in the original fourteenth century work.
Become a patron, click here