Autumn: A Folio Anthology

Illustrated by Petra Börner

Introduced by Kathleen Jamie

Edited by Sue Bradbury

An exclusive collection of poems and prose, with authors ranging from Charles Dickens to Matsuo Bashō.

Celebrating the season of mists, bonfires and copper-coloured leaves, this collection brings together a selection of poetry and prose. Accompanying them are specially commissioned illustrations by the Swedish artist Petra Börner, who originally studied fashion at St Martins in London and has exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery and Claire de Rouen. Four are presented as double-page spreads, while the text, which is printed in two colours, is decorated with motifs taken from her images.

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Bound in quarter cloth with printed Modigliani paper sides

Set in Caslon

96 pages

Integrated colour illustrations

8¾˝ x 5½˝

Please note that this edition is not slipcased

AMBER HUES AND APPLE BUTTER

In her introduction, award-winning Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie meditates on the season’s peculiar attraction for writers, in particular English-language poets, with their mournful, elegiac inclinations. Aside from its particular scents and colours, it is, she argues, a time conducive to reflection and stillness; a time in which to ‘slow down, consider the natural world, and ponder our human place in it’. William Blake heralds autumn a ‘golden load’ of fruits; Alison Uttley evokes ‘A Country Child’ its long shadows and ‘mother-of-pearl mists’; while for Pushkin the soon-to-vanish beauty of autumn flowers recalls the bittersweet kisses of lovers who must soon part. In Elinor Wylie’s powerful depiction of America’s contrasting landscapes it is ‘amber-hued, sunny and hot’. There are poems by John Clare, Emily Brontë, Edward Thomas, Matsuo Bashō and more, and extracts from Walden and Bleak House, as well as from lesser-known works, such as an early 20th-century children’s guide on how to study maple trees. Also included are a recipe for sloe gin, and a homesteader’s notes on making apple butter in 18th-century America.

ABOUT KATHLEEN JAMIE

Kathleen Jamie is the author of numerous collections of poetry, including The Tree House (2004), which won the Forward Prize for best poetry collection of the year, and The Overhaul, which won the Costa Award for Poetry in 2012. She has twice won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and three of her collections have been shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. She is also the author of the critically acclaimed Findings (2005) and Sightlines (2012), both collections of essays and observations on nature and landscape. Kathleen Jamie is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Stirling.

ABOUT PETRA BÖRNER

Petra Börner, originally from Sweden, is an artist and illustrator based in London. She studied Fashion Design at St Martin’s School of Art in London, and her first commissions came from Elle and Vogue. Through numerous commissions by clients including the V&A, Oscars, Carven and Penguin Random House, her signature style features in a variety of cross-industry collaborations. Her work has been exhibited worldwide, at the National Portrait Gallery, Claire de Rouen, the Design Museum in London, Portefoin in Paris, as well as at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo.