Rare £5 for auction

An exceptionally rare £5 banknote, printed in 1900, is expected to fetch up to £16,000 when auctioned at Noonans’ auction house in Mayfair on 12 October. Unusually, the note was issued in Leeds, and signed by Horace G. Bowen the Bank of England’s chief cashier from 1893 to 1902. “This is a great note,” said Andrew Pattison, Noonans’ head of banknotes.

“Very few Bowen notes are in private hands, especially from this exceptionally rare Leeds branch. "The York hand stamp shows part of the journey of the note, issued in Leeds and paid into a bank at some point in York.” Before coming to its present owner, the note was sold by British businessman and collector, David Kirch, who at one point had assembled the UK’s largest collection of provincial banknotes. Pattison added: “This is not the first Leeds note that Noonans has sold. An extremely rare £500 note dated 1936 was sold for a hammer price of £24,000 in March of this year.” The £5 Leeds note will go up for sale alongside several other rare notes, including an 1862 £5 note, valued at £10,000–£15,000 and a £50 note from 1845, valued at £15,000–£20,000. A very early example of a £2 note will also be up for sale, dated to 1798, and is expected to fetch up to £16,000. All four notes were printed at the Bank of England’s central london Threadneedle Street printworks, where all paper notes were printed from 1791 to 1917, when printing moved to the former Lunatic Hospital of St Luke’s in Old Street. 

Image credit: Noonans

 By 1920, the former hospital had been fully converted into a recognisably modern printworks, with concrete floors, three large machinery halls and amenities for staff. The Bank now prints notes at its purpose-built site in Debden, Essex, where print operations have been handled since the 1950s. Its partner De La Rue operates the site under contract.

Read the whole story on Printweek here...

https://www.printweek.com/content/news/rare-123-year-old-5-note-goes-up-for-auction/

https://www.noonans.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.10.22

Jobs from the past - Number 167

Regular followers of this blog will know that my first post of every month is a "job from the past" so that I can show some of the really good work from years gone by and this one is from 2013

AMC² Issue4

Archive of Modern Conflict is an independent publisher based in London and this is issue 4 of  their series of journals. (their books on photography and art have won or been shortlisted for many prizes). This is a truly beautiful book, which is just a delight to hold and leaf through.

 

AMC² issue4 comprises photographs from Collected Shadows, an exhibition curated by the AMC for Paris Photo 2012. The works span a period from the early 1850s to the present day and are by photographers both known and unknown, amongst them Bertha Jaques, Gustave Le Gray, Robert Frank, Willi Ruge, Paul-Émile Miot, Johann Böhm, Ferdinand Quénisset, Mario Giacomelli, Eugene Atget, Josef Sudek and many others, while subjects include earth, fire, air, water and ether as well as divinity, astronomy, meteorology, flight and dance (these words from AMC books)

The size is 230x200mm, portrait and is perfect bound. The publication has an 8pp cover on StarFine White 200gsm. The text is made up using "French-folded" sections on Marazion Ultra 90gsm which gives it a sensational light feel and flows beautifully in the hand. The book has a 14mm spine.

The book has 140pp or printed pages (which I would normally describe as 70 x 4pp French-folded sections) - this actually makes 280pp but because the other side is unprinted and the ends are bound, each 4pp = 2pp. It's a bit tricky but if you think about it, it makes sense. French folding with a material like Marazion Ultra 90gsm feels fantastic because the weight of the material lets the pages flop and flow beautifully. The 8pp cover (pictured below) on Starfine 200gsm contributes to the soft feel. 

The picture below shows the foredge with the "french-folded" text

The book is printed by a Belgian printer, Die Keure, who are based in Bruges. They are one of the most renowned European book printers and they print for many of the high end publishers in Europe. The print and binding is superb on this book. It is printed CMYK throughout but most of the images have a mono/sepia reproductions and it's hard to get the consistency of look and feel in one publication from multiple image sources but this is an admirable result.

 

The designer is Melanie Mues, who I have worked with for many years. It was great to have the opportunity to work on a book project together, especially one as exquisite as this. 

https://archiveofmodernconflict.com/amc2-journal-issue-4/
https://www.muesdesign.com/
https://www.diekeure.be/printing/en/

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.10.2023

Carriage Works Swindon

Once a booming Victorian industrial town, Swindon’s reputation has suffered greatly since the Second World War. Swindon Borough Council recently commenced an ambitious regeneration plan for entire town. At its heart is the Railway Heritage Quarter, made famous by Brunel and Gough’s Great Western Railway in the 19th century.

The entire area is known as the Great Western Works (GWW) and the Carriage Works is a development for the tech and innovation business hub within GWW.

Size of the publication is 297x250mm, portrait with a 4pp cover on Omnia 320gsm and a 12pp text with two throw-outs (16pp total) printed on Omnia 150gsm.

Picture below shows the throw out...

Click on images to enlarge

The material chosen for the publication is our Omnia. This material has a high bulk, required as effectively this is only a 20pp brochure. The solid yellow, almost looks fluorescent, it is so vibrant. The photography and the CGI's have reproduced brilliantly on the Omnia.

Even though the 150gsm text paper is bulky, it still rolls and flows nicely in the hand without feeling too stiff and rigid....

Birds eye view, showing the two throw out pages:

Click on images to enlarge

A really nice feature is the singer sewn binding, which you can see here on both the exterior and interior of the publication.

Above showing exterior stitching (on the outside spine) and below showing the interior stitching on the centre pages.

The pantone special yellow is so vibrant!

Art direction and design is by Bell Integrated. You can read more about the whole project here: https://www.bell-integrated.co.uk/portfolio/great-western-works/. Printed offset litho throughout. The excellent print, repro and finishing is by Gavin Martin, based in London

https://www.bell-integrated.co.uk/
https://www.gavinmartin.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 25.09.2023

The Annual St Bride Foundation Conference returns!

St Bride Foundation has reprised its annual conference, with the event set to take place in November. It's live event and also being live-streamed to a worldwide audience for the first time.

Conference Identity by David Pearson

Talking to Printweek, event curator Becky Chilcott said the pandemic had resulted in “a greater need to bring our fantastic community together more often and inspire and engage with them and their creativity”, and it was the perfect time to revive the event. “Not only will the conference keep the St Bride Foundation alive in people’s creative imaginations, it will also raise vital funds to help the upkeep of our Grade II listed Victorian building, management and conservation of our unique and irreplaceable library collections and running of our print workshop and learning programme.” The St Bride Foundation said the event would be “a conversazione celebrating innovation, inspiration, imagination and invention”. 

The speaker line-up includes: Naïma Ben Ayed, Neville Brody, Jean Julien, Naomi Kent, Alicia Martin, Bob Richardson, Venessa and Vanice Scott, and Dominic Wilcox. Attendees will also be able to find out more about some of the treasures and notable items in the St Bride Library collection, and will have a chance to try letterpress printing using the historic presses in the St Bride printing workshop

Fenner Paper is pleased to be one of the principal sponsors along with Commercial Type and the Fleet Street Quarter together with Google and the Wynkyn de Worde Society Charitable Trust.

Principal Sponsors

The conference will take place on Saturday 11 November at the St Bride Foundation in London. In person tickets cost £60, £70 or £80. Online tickets for the live-stream are £35, £45, or £50. The discounted rates apply to students and Friends of St Bride.

You can book HERE. So why don't you get those little grey cells moving and sign up! NOW

https://sbf.org.uk/whats-on/view/the-annual-st-bride-foundation-conference/

SUMO - up to 3mm thick!

SUMO is our a heavyweight, thick board manufactured by FAVINI in Italy. It is available in black and white and the consists of 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm up to a whopping 3mm thick  ...seriously chunky! Originally just in Black and White, the range has now been extended to include a small range of colours - five shades all available in 1mm thick and below is the new lighter weight swatch...

 Size of the swatch is 240x152mm with 10mm spine

Thanks to the dyeing process, the colour distribution is consistent throughout to give excellent results especially when the edge is visible. The finest quality makes Sumo perform excellently for invitations, tags, covers, business cards, luxury POS material and high-end packaging.

The SUMO range is FSC certified. Below shows the five new shades, all available in 1mm thick.

If you would like samples, please drop me an email: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

https://www.favini.com/gs/en/products/sumo/

Posted by Justin Hobson 13.09.2023

Radisson Blu Edwardian

The Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel in Manchester is set inside the historic Free Trade Hall, one of the city’s oldest and most iconic buildings, and is known for its musical past. The hotel has 263 luxurious rooms and suites and many of the suites are named after some of the artists that appeared at the venue before it was a hotel.

This brochure is about these "Signature Suites" and the facilities that the have to offer.

The format is A5 Landscape and is printed on our Omnia. It is an 8pp self cover printed on Omnia White 200gsm. A "self-cover" format is usually more economical as it can all be printed on one sheet, whereas if there is a different text and cover weight, they have to be printed on separate sheets.

Omnia is a very bulky paper so as just an 8pp saddle stitched, the 200gsm weight works really well.

Click on images to enlarge

Printed offset litho in CMYK throughout.

Image reproduction is paramount but it was also important that the publication also projected the tactility of the interiors and in the image below the detail of the bar area.  An ordinary feeling silk or gloss coated paper wasn't an option, so Omnia fitted the bill perfectly.

The outside front and back covers are hot foil blocked in silver foil.

Printing is by Stuart Van Den Bergh at Intaglio Communications based in London.

https://www.radissonblu-edwardian.com/manchester-hotel-gb-m2-5gp/gbmanche
http://www.intaglioltd.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.01.2023

Jobs from the past - Number 166

Regular followers of this blog will know that my first post of every month is a "job from the past" so that I can show some of the really good work from years gone by and this one is from 2014...

Guardian News & Media sustainability report 2014

This is the printed summary of the Guardian News & Media sustainability report. The whole 2014 report was available online but this is the printed report produced to give out to staff and partners.

The size of the report is 148mm square, saddle stitched and has a 4pp cover and 16pp text. The publication is printed on our Shiro Echo, Bright White which is 100% recycled and also carries FSC certification.

The report is beautifully illustrated by Laurent Cilluffo.

http://www.laurentcilluffo.com/

Design is by the in-house design team at The Guardian. Production was handled by Leon Abrahams.

Print is by Cantate, a division of the John Good  and was handled by Jason Maclaren.

http://www.laurentcilluffo.com/

https://www.johngood.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 01.09.2023