Hello booklovers! Supply chain issues in getting books to Australia along with other life dramas delayed my annual beautiful book review a bit this year, but I hope there are still some exciting discoveries coming up that solve your gift-giving dilemmas, or at least tempt you for your own personal collections. And of course, I’d love for you to share your favourites for this year in the comments. As usual, all books I feature do have beautiful insides, but this video focuses on those that also have beautiful outsides and special shelf appeal. Section timestamps and links to find the books are in the description box below, as well as a link to an even longer list of books with extra titles on my website. But enough blathering, let’s get straight into the books!
We’ll start with books for kids and timeless stories for the young at heart.
First off we have a beautiful edition of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Ashley Lovett. This illustrated adaptation has haunting charcoal work and closely follows the original tale with a slightly reworked bittersweet ending. It's ethereal and heartbreaking in the very best way. However, some may consider the illustrations a little bit too adult in style for young children, so have a look as I flick through here and make your own decision.
Next, I have another Hans Christian Andersen classic, this time it’s a pop-up adaptation of The Snow Queen. This one's illustrated by Leslie Barnes. The story has been retold for children and the pop-ups are just magical and full of joy.
MinaLima have continued their awesome interactive children's classics series this year with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. True to their style, the illustrations are vivid and colorful. The book has nine interactive features which include removable green glasses and pop ups and clickable silver shoes. It's gorgeous and clever, as are all the books in this series.
This one here is a collector's edition of the Disney twisted tale series, and as far as I can tell, it's only been released in Australia so far. The novel is called Part of Your World and it's a reimagining of the Little Mermaid story, set five years after the end of the original tale. The book has an updated cover design with metallic accents and blue sprayed page edges but otherwise the insides look essentially the same as the paperback editions. There's another title in the series scheduled to come out in this collector’s edition format next year, so it looks like they will be continuing the redesigns at least for a few more books.
This is the second book in the Folklore Field Guide series. It's called A natural history of Magick by Poppy David, with illustrations by Jessica Roux. The books has an embossed cloth cover with a ribbon marker and sprayed gold page edges. Inside the text is presented as an introduction to famous magical characters and creatures ostensibly written as a journal by a professor grandson, with summary information and delightful detailed sketches to enjoy.
Red Gloves and other stories by Catherine Fisher was released around Halloween time, and it's a spooky collection of short tales that concern myths and folklore and magic. The stories are aimed at middle graders and the illustrations by Anne Glenn add to the shivery atmosphere. First editions have red sprayed pages so if you're thinking of getting a copy it makes sense to do it early.
Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave was actually just recently announced as Waterstones book of the year. It's a lovely book about a difficlut topic, family and mental health. It’s beautifully written by Hargrave, and accompanied by gorgeous duotone black and yellow illustrations by Tom de Freston, who are actually a husband and wife team. Some of the illustrated pages are translucent which makes for a really interesting effect. The story itself follows Julia, who moves to lighthouse on a remote island for the summer, and how her scientist mother's desperate obsession with finding a shark threatens the family. The edition I'm showing here was actually a Waterstones special edition that had sprayed pages but the normal standard editions have the same translucent illustration features on the inside. They're just missing the sprayed pages. The special hardback edition is sold out, but they will be doing a paperback run with sprayed edges as well shortly. Just a note that if you particularly like sprayed pages or other fancy features like this in books, I should mention that I actually run a page on my website which lets you know about these books ahead of time so you don't miss out on them. I'll link to that page below as well in case it's something that you're interested in.
Together by Luke Adam Hawker is one of those delightful ageless philosophical picture books that could be aimed at children or adults equally. It is obviously inspired by social distancing during the pandemic, and it illustrates the emotional rollercoaster of this time period as seen through the eyes of a man and his dog. It's beautiful, and I particularly enjoyed the level of detail in the double page spreads.
We didn't get a new illustrated Harry Potter this year, but instead we've got a compilation called Harry Potter: A Magical Year with illustrations by Jim Kay. It has gorgeous artwork and sketches from the first four illustrated Harry Potter books, and there are some particularly amazing full color spreads. There are some fun touches included as well, like different character’s birthdays, but to be honest it’s really a book you buy for the art rather than the text.
The Hatmakers by Tamzin Merchant is the first book in a new magical series about magical milliners, and the UK edition has one of those delightful hidden illustrated covers under the dust jacket. The story is illustrated throughout by Paola Escobar, and it's an enchanting fantasy adventure set in London that has twists and mysteries, bravery and resourcefulness, and the importance following your heart. It's a lovely middle grade novel that is fun for adult readers too, and the sequel ‘Mapmakers’ is due out pretty soon as well.
In honor of the 95th anniversary of Winnie the Pooh, Jane Riordan has created a collection of sweet stories written in style of A A Milne called Once there was a Bear. As you might guess from the title, it takes us back to the beginning when Winnie the Pooh was first purchased for baby Christopher Robin. I thought it was sensitively done, and the illustrations are quite true to the original style of Ernest Shepard as well.
This year we were lucky enough to get two Minalima interactive classics. This one is the second volume in the Harry Potter series - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Once again we are treated to their beautiful graphic style with full color illustrations throughout, and eight interactive elements including the Whomping Willow and travelling through the Flue Network. Of course, it's delightful. I'm collecting this whole series and I really look forward to each new volume as it comes out.
Here's another novel with a hidden cover - this is Cold Hearted by Serena Valentino, the latest in Disney’s Villains series of retellings that feature other characters from classic fairy tales. This one is a Cinderella reimagining that explores how her stepmother, Lady Tremaine, and how she is hardened over time to take on the stereotypical role of evil stepmother.
The False Rose is the third book in the Murderer’s Ape series by Jakob Wegelius, a series that is translated from the original Swedish. They are delightful classic-style adventures complemented by pen and ink illustrations throughout the books. I think it's a really fun series, although you don’t need to have read the earlier books to enjoy this one. The book star Sally Jones, an anthropoid ape that works as a ship’s engineer, who gets entangled in a mystery surrounding the owner of a rose-shaped necklace. The characters travel from Lisbon to Glasgow and readers can enjoy some old-fashioned escapism as they accompany them on their trip.
Moving now to nonfiction children’s titles, The Sky by Helene Druvert is a massive, oversized volume that takes readers on a soaring journey through birds and clouds via the atmosphere and into the planets and the stars and beyond. It covers natural themes from pollination to weather and flying machines. It makes great use of clever laser cut outs all the way through. I'm not sure if the book is actually marketed for children or adults because the pages are quite delicate, but I think it’s usually put out with the picture books so I've included it here.
Here we have another volume in the popular magical unicorn society series – Unicorns, Myths and Monsters. It's a collection of illustrated stories of unicorns, dragons, phoenixes, Kraken and all sorts of other magical creatures. The text is fairly simple as it’s obviously aimed at younger readers, but anyone will enjoy the beautiful and brightly coloured graphic illusrations.
Dinosaurs and other prehistoric life by DK books is a beautifully illustrated dinosaur book. Each of the species features a fossil photograph, a stunning illustration and associated information about the creature. Lots of incredible facts and fascinating tidbits to entertain and share with others. It's actually part of a longer series of DK natural history books, and they are all fantastic titles - really nice, informative coffee table books with photographs and beautiful illustrations as well.
In a similar vein, Oceanarium is the latest in the Welcome to Museum series. These are more massive oversized books, and they just gorgeous explorations - this one obviously featuring the underwater world. The titles in this series feature stunning and intricate artwork and the text is always written by experts. In this case the book is written by Loveday Trinick, a marine biologist from the UK’s National Marine Aquarium, and the gorgeous illustrations are by Teagan White. The whole series is stunning but they're really huge and you will definitely need to clear some tall space in your bookcase if you're planning to collect them.
This is an unusual picture book that is an interesting combination of biography and fairy tale retelling, giving a modern feminist twist to the Cinderella story inspired by the life and work of the German film director Lotte Reiniger, who was a pioneer of silhouette animation. The book doesn't actually have as much actual die cut paper within the story as I had expected. There are a couple of foldout pages that are quote pretty, but essentially the illustrations by Laura Barret are based on cut paper designs.
I'll finish out this section with the Macmillan Fairy Tales collection. This is a beautiful hardback treasury of classic fairy tales from around the world. The stories are quite accessible, and are accompanied with a number of Golden Age illustrations - mostly these are blue sketches or black and white images, with a small number of full page color illustrations throughout as well. The cover is foiled and die-cut and the page edges are gold foil as well – although they're a little bit fragile because I managed to scratch mine just with my finger nail by accident. It's got a ribbon bookmark, and it's also in series with the Jungle Book and the Alice Treasury Macmillan released over the last couple of years as well.
Next up, we have myths and legends. Now this year saw publication of so many beautiful books in this genre – I’ve limited myself to just a few here for this video, but I've actually got a whole lot more in the online list - I just didn't want this video to go too long. I might do a separate video showcasing some more of my favourite myths and legends if there are some of you out there like me who really love this genre - just let me know in the comments if you’re interested.
Let's get started here with this retelling of Medusa by Jessie Burton. It’s a feminist retelling of the famous Greek myth – which basically means it is strongly grounded in the original myth but explores Meduas’s backstory and character rather than making her a villain. For me, one of the things making this book really special are the stunning illustrations by Olivia Lomenech Gill. They're really gorgeous. The whole book is just put together really beautifully, it’s such a lovely production.
Next up I have this new Annotated Arabian Nights. This collection has original translations of a selection of the most important 1001 Nights stories from Arabic and French, including Alibaba and the 40 Thieves and the Voyages of Sinbad. As well as providing a vivid, readable and lyrical translation, there are interesting scholarly explanations of the tales, and there are also 300 historical and contemporary illustrations and artwork from around the world that accompanies the text. An excellent volume.
This one is just really delightful little book. It’s a small paperback, but it's really beautifully designed. It's called the Book of the Raven by Angus Highland, and it explores the visual and literary life of ravens that references literary works from Edgar Allen Poe to Game of Thrones. Lots of intriguing information, excellent clear layout, fantastic artwork, and I just loved learning more about the legends and stories.
Storyland it is a retelling of British myths by Amy Jeffs. As is obvious from the title, this is a book about stories and fantastical tales. One of the things that makes this book particularly special are the woodcut illustrations that are throughout the text. The author is an art historian at a printmaker, and her passion for those two things really come through clearly in the book. It feels like you're traveling through time, enjoying both a scholarly background to as well as fantasy elements of myths and legends from around the country – particularly those with a literary bent. I didn't read it from beginning to end all in one sitting but I chose to enjoy it chapter by chapter, it was just one of those sorts of books. I really alos appreciated the prints throughout the book – they were shadowy and graceful and they really did capture that sense of mystery.
These next two are reprints of what were originally larger format picture books, but they have now been released in really delightful pocket format versions. Jackie has a lyrical writing style and a beautiful magical illustration style that are perfect complements to fairy tale retellings. These volumes are quite small, and thick, but they're a pleasure to read. And that of course is one of the most important things when you're looking at a beautiful book.
This collection of Russian folk tales is illustrated by Dinar Mirtalipova with really whimsical, enchanting folk art illustrations that are just perfect for the stories. Although it’s completely standalone, it is also part of a larger folklore series by Chronicle Books. I'll do a separate video on all the books in this series because all of them have beautiful artwork by different illustrators and the stories are all quite accessible.
This book of Norse Myths by Matt Ralphs retells classic Viking mythology with gorgeous, profuse illustrations throughout by Katie Ponder. It's actually a companion volume to an earlier book put out by DK last year on Greek myths. It's a really good selection of myths covering lots of different gods, creatures and settings from Norse mythology. The book is separated into sections which include additional information about the gods and goddesses and other figures.
This book is a retelling of Greek myths - the classic myths which star Athena and Helen and Searcy and Penelope, recounted as if they were seen as being woven into textiles by the women who feature in the tails. It's illustrated by Chris Ofili with a sparce line drawing at the beginning of every chapter. One of the really nice things about this book is the way Charlotte Higgins has woven the stories together so they bounce off each other in a really interesting way. And the beautiful layout and format of the book really reflect that care and attention to the contents inside.
Last but not least in this collection I’d love to show you Faeries of the Faultlines by Iris Compiet. This book gives me such strong vibes of Brian Froud and Alan Lee, but the artist has claimed her own space with those luminaries. It’s a simply enchanting look at the fairy creatures that inhabit the Faultlines, with elaborate and well-thought out text to complement the breathtaking illustrations. The whole volume is beautifully made too – the pages are thick and luxurious, and the book itself is bound in cloth under the dust jacket with a gold embossed title. It’s gorgeous.
Next up, I want to look at classic novels that are released by publishers in a Series Binding
We’ll start with Chiltern Classics, who are running a release schedule of a new set of eight or so titles every year. I've actually done a review of this series before because I think they're really delightful books. They're beautifully made with gilded edges, they're really heavy weight and thick paper, and the covers are embossed with stunning 3-dimensional designs. I’ll show the Secret Garden here, because it was one of my favourite covers from this year’s releases.
Another series I’ve reviewed before is the Seasons Classics collection by Thomas Nelson. This year saw both Spring and Fall or Autumn collections released, so all the seasons have now been covered. The books in each collection are chosen because their text reflects the seasonal setting. The volumes have laser cut dust jackets, which are very delicate, so they come in a protective plastic cover. The book case is textured with foil stamping and there are decorative pull-out quotes in the text. Each book is limited to 10000 copies. The books in these two series come with die-cut bookmarks that match the cover design as well. I’m going to show Sherlock Holmes here, which was one of the Spring titles.
The Marjolein Bastin Classics collection is a new series that first came out earlier this year when I showcased Pride and Prejudice in a previous videos. Other titles she has done in the same vein are Jane Eyre, Emma, Sense and Sensibility and Wuthering Heights. These are paperbound hardbacks, but one of the special things that they all have is removable ephemera throughout the book like letters and maps and stories and postcards. Many of the pages are also illustrated with small watercolors of what look like pressed flowers throughout. They absolutely delightful volumes and the interactive elements make them really fun to read. I highly recommend all of these.
We also saw a couple of new titles released in the Beehive Books illuminated editions collection. These are really beautifully produced luxury and oversized editions of classic fiction. They come in really elaborate decorative slipcases, and they have stunning bespoke contemporary illustrations. I can’t do them justice here, so I’ll just show a sneak peek of the Blazing World now, and I’ll do a separate video for the rest of the collection because they’re just fantastic - I promise more on these later.
Jumping into more classic fiction,
The Letters edition of Little Women edited by Barbara Heller is as beautifully done as her earlier version of Pride and Prejudice. The letters and papers are imaginative renderings of the March family’s correspondence that are placed in glassine envelopes throughout the book that provide a new fun addition to enjoying the book. The letters are really true to the different characters, and are provided as facsimiles that are well researched and true to the time period.
I have a couple of new classic volumes illustrated by the wonderful watercolours of Robert Ingpen to share next. This first one is the tale of Robinson Crusoe in which young, impulsive, Robinson defies the advice of his parents and runs away to sea where he is plagued by misfortune at every turn.
Next we have the illustrated Gulliver’s Travels, the classic story of the ship's surgeon who sets off on the high seas in search of adventure and encounters the tiny Lilliputians, the Brobdingnag giants, the philosophical Houyhnhnms and the brutish Yahoos.
This is a new edition of Animal Farm, the classic revolution tale with illustrations by Chris Mould.
Adam Silvera recently released a collector’s edition of his beloved YA novel They Both Die At The End, which coincided with the announcement that he is also writing some more books set in the same world. The collector’s edition is pretty much a standard hardback, with a shiny gold cover and some bonus material including an interview with the author.
Before finishing this section, I wanted to add in a couple of small poetry volumes here and this edition of The Goblin Market is absolutely divine. This is Rossetti's poem about Lizzie and Laura, who are tempted by the fruit sold by the goblin merchants, and it’s just beautifully illustrated on every page. It even fills the last few pages with a few bonus poems. It’s supposed to be the start of a new series, so I sincerely hope they do more like this.
I was also really taken with this delightful edition of the Owl and the Nightingale by Simon Armitage. This is a Middle English tale about a battle between the two birds, simultaneously eloquent, philosophical and ridiculous. The verse is enlivened with decorative initials, as well as several full-page illustrations by Clive Hicks-Jenkins.
Next I’d like to call out some of my favorite fantasy titles from this year.
This is the 10th anniversary edition of Ben Aaronvitch’s urban fantasy Rivers of London. It’s a very atmospheric London-based series, about a modern day British policeman who discovers he can talk to the dead and gets drafted into the magical investigation unit. This anniversary edition is a bit light on with paper boards, but it has new mapped endpapers and an introduction from the author.
Here’s my favourite graphic novel of the year, Wika by Thomas Day, illustrated by Oliver Ledroit. I’m a sucker for fairy tale retellings, and I adored the lush baroque-style steampunk fantasy setting of this volume. It’s a bit of a fever dream though, and I should warn you there’s a fair bit of nudity.
If you’re on the lookout for a new edition of Dune, the new Masterworks edition was recently released which has an introduction by Hari Junzru. If you can get it though, the book I have here is the Waterstones exclusive Masterworks edition which also has purple sprayed page edges with a bronzed planetscape stencilled on the sides.
Obviously in the fantasy section I have to mention Jay Kristoff’s dark fantasy Empire of the Vampire. There were no less than 14 different special editions released of this title which speaks volumes about its popularity. But even the most standard hardback edition is quite special, as it includes some beautiful decorations and artwork by Bon Orthwick.
If you like a bit of horror, the second volume of François Baranger’s simply illustrated edition of the Lovecraft tale at the Mountains of Madness was released this year. These volumes are oversized and feature simply stunning fantastical and gorgeous alien landscapes. He also illustrated a companion edition of The Call of Cthulhu – I’m not much of a horror reader myself but I couldn’t resist these.
Next we have a couple of gorgeous illustrated Philip Pullman volumes with woodcuts by Chris Wormell. This is the novella Lyra’s Oxford which is as lovely as you would expect from Wormell’s earlier work illustrating this series.
We also got the second volume in the His Dark Materials series, The Subtle Knife, which is again a stunningly illustrated companion to the first volume. This is the UK edition, and I assume the US edition will be released early next year.
A quick flick here of this adorable deluxe edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula with Edward Gorey’s fantastic illustrations. It features a velvety flocked cover and the 2-color artwork Gorey created for his stage adaptation. My copy is still lost in the post, but I’ve seen this edition in the shops and it’s definitely a great edition if you’re looking for a fun copy of Dracula.
I really enjoyed this fantastical book from Eye of Newt press. It’s a gorgeously illustrated, magical fantasy world that is designed as a stunning coffee table book purportedly put out by the Gwelf Council for Tourism and Trade. If you happen to play DnD it’s a fantastic campaign resource, but anyone who loves fantasy art will definitely enjoy immersing themselves in this world.
I always like to include some beautiful non-fiction and reference titles and this year I will start with Taschen’s second volume in the Library of Esoterica, Astrology. You don’t have to be a believer to enjoy these volumes – they provide an interesting history and explore the symbolic meaning behind images that range from illuminated manuscripts to contemporary artworks. Big hefty volumes, but certainly fascinating to dip into.
Another esoteric volume is this visual archive of Tarot and divination cards by Laetitia Barbier. Again we have an interesting historical look at 500 years of figurative card decks created or used for fortune telling, divinations, and oracles, and explores their iconographic roots. The embossed decorations on the front and back covers add a really special touch.
Around the World in 80 Plants by Jonathan Drori is a companion to his earlier book on trees. Both are excellent – they take a trip across the globe and bring science to life in text and image, revealing how intricately the plant world is entwined with human history, culture and folklore. Perfect for dipping into and reading an entry whenever the fancy takes you.
If you’re a Bronte fan, this latest volume in the illustrated letters series has excerpts and photographs of letters and sketches that tell the story both of the real world of the Brontës at Haworth Parsonage, their home on the edge of the lonely Yorkshire moors, and of the imaginary worlds they spun for themselves in their novels and poetry. If like me you can’t visit there any time soon, this is the next best thing.
Next up I have a perfect gift for booklovers. Mental Floss’s collection of essays titled The Curious Reader contains gorgeous visual spreads with details and trivia about classic novels and their authors. The text is fun and lively, and it covers lots of different books including classic and contemporary titles.
Now on to a couple of fun Christmas tales.
The Very Merry Murder Club is a diverse collection of short mysteries, murders and frosty adventures for middle graders with a fun hidden cover under the dust jacket. Since it’s an anthology of different authors, the quality of the stories does vary and the first story with an autistic lead is the real standout.
The Christmas Pig is a lovely tale about the special power that favorite toys have when we are children. It’s a very cute story with illustrations by Jim Field and the hardback has a lovely gold embossed design on the boards under the dust jacket.
If you’re looking for some bookish gifts, these next two are some that I have chosen to give this year.
I found these embossed leather journals really cheaply on AliExpress which I’ll link below because I’ve seen them sold at a huge markup through Instagram and Facebook. The leather covers are thick and genuine. The embossing is deep and luxurious and they even come beautifully wrapped. You can buy them in portrait or landscape layout and they are filled with blank pages that are securely sewn into the spine. I don’t think the paper is archival quality but they are really lovely for the purposes I’ll be using them.
This box of postcards features artwork by Jackie Morris from the beautiful books The Lost Words and The Lost Spells. I love boxes of cards like these because you can use them all year for any sort of event and they’re just lovely watercolours.
And finally I promise we are almost at the end of this much longer than anticipated video! I wanted to finish with a couple of special titles that are a bit more expensive than your usual hardback.
This edition of The Great Gatsby is from a new Canadian private press called Century Press. It is bound in sheepskin leather upcycled from the fashion industry which means it feels buttery soft, and the cover design is gold-stamped onto the cover. The text is letterpress printed on premium quality paper, and it has a really nice impression of the text and of course it is smyth-sewn and very well constructed. The price is super reasonable for a limited edition book of this quality so get in quick before this first title sells out.
This delightful little volume is the Folio Society’s new Charles van Sandwyk title, one of the illustrators I specially collect. It’s a sweet pocket-sized accordion booklet that follows the Painter Mouse on a whimsical journey. The back side of the story features several new illustrations especially made for this edition.
And finally another Folio Society set, this is the Howl’s Moving Castle series by Diana Wynne Jones, the final volume of which was released this year. The books are enclosed in decorative slipcases, and stunning illustrated bindings are complemented with beautiful illustrations to accompany the text. It’s a magical story and if you only know the tale from Miyazaki’s fantastic film, you will find the books have so much more to offer.
A huge thank you to anyone who managed to stick through to the end of the video, it’s really special to think I can connect with other book-obsessed friends out there in Internet-land via youtube! I genuinely would love to hear what books you found to be really special publications this year in the comments, and if there are any of the genres I covered in this video that you’d like to see more of. As promised at the beginning, most of the books are linked below to help you find the right editions, and I do have more recommendations on the website if you aren’t yet completely exhausted after this marathon video!
Til next time,
Bye!
