Brave New World by Areté Editions
- Zach Harney
- May 20
- 16 min read
Updated: Jun 23
We have the pleasure of discussing a truly remarkable project that has been in the works for a couple of years now: a fine press edition of Brave New World—Aldous Huxley’s iconic dystopian novel. This edition not only preserves Huxley’s haunting vision of the future but elevates it through the team's exceptional craftsmanship, from thoughtful typography and binding design, to reimagined art from British pop artist Allen Jones. We’ll be diving into the process behind creating what will undoubtedly be the definitive fine press version of Brave New World for years to come, exploring what it takes to breathe new life into a classic dystopian masterpiece. We want to give a huge thanks to Marcelo and the team for giving us a peek behind the curtain and are excited for the public preorder coming on May 31st at 5pm UK time.
Marcelo Anciano – (Owner, interior layout, overall design)
Q: You have talked about this project being in development for a few years now, and you must be excited that the preorder for the book is now imminent. It’s certainly been at the top of my list since I found out you were working on it. Can you tell us about the initial decision to recreate this classic and how it evolved between Rich Tong (binder), Phil Abel (owner, letterpress printer), and yourself (owner, interior layout and overall design)?
When Phil and I talked about creating Arete we always wanted to bring out the books which were being a little bit neglected by the Fine Press publishing community, as well as the ‘blockbusters’ which we knew would be well represented. A classic like Brave New World hadn’t actually been represented in our world for fifty years, since the letterpressed Limited Edition Club version, and my memory is that there wasn’t any colour in that book. Brave New World was one of the first books that we went after the rights for soon after Phil and I committed to Areté Editions.
Brave New World is one of the most important books in the Western World. The Science Fiction that Huxley pioneered was a much more insidious future than Orwell’s 1984 imagined. It came from a society that kept its populous in check by the sort of media we have now! This is a quote from a Huxley bio; ‘…the social and economic divide between the haves and the have nots is legally enforced and discontent is quelled by advertising, medication, sex and entertainment.’ Sounds familiar?! The story has characters that come from this society and start to question the world they live in. Their world is separated from a world of indigenous peoples who live in a world untouched by modern concerns and they bring back a man who was born amongst them but is from the Brave New World. The repercussions in the characters reveal the insidious nature of the future.
Phil was amazed that someone like Allen Jones wanted to do a book like this and his vision of the book was that it would be a unique Fine Press book with Allen’s participation.
Q: In the post-WWI era, when the entire world got an eye-opening look at large-scale totalitarianism in the modern world, we saw the birth of the dystopian genre with works like We by Yevgeny Zamyatin and Brave New World from Huxley. What had your prior experience with this title been before working on it, and why is now the time for this book to receive this particular treatment?
I read Brave New World as a student and the subtle vision of the future seemed not as bombastic as 1984. It was always 1984 that seemed more relevant then, but actually it is Brave New World that resonates today. It is so prophetic. The way that the characters are affected by the world and their questioning of the way they are all kept in check is so modern and so real somehow. The fact that Brave New World has not been done in recent years as a Fine Press book is astonishing really. It’s a landmark book that has influenced science fiction ever since its initial publication. Its impact cannot be underestimated.
Q: There were a lot of different ways you could have approached this artistically, but you decided to pull in legendary British pop artist Allen Jones (one of the last living pop artists) to create the imagery that would guide the overall aesthetic of this project. Can you share with us your thought process behind this choice and how it has been working with someone outside of the typical artists in the fine press world?
There are many ways the story could have been illustrated. The Folio Society had done a lovely version where they illustrated the book with images of the world and its cities. It was quite grand and dystopian. I wanted it to have the vibrancy of the pop world that the characters seemed to be living in. Although it was published in the ‘30’s it was the pop era of the late ‘50’s early ‘60’s that it felt like to me. Colourful! Bright! Perfect world! Why would you want to have any change! Be happy with what you’ve got. And if you are not, take drugs, have sex, go to parties. The sixties. And now.
Both Rich and I came through the Fine Art college degrees. The artists we both were aware of during our student days were the new YBAs (Young British Artists) as well as the Pop Artists and the reaction to the American Abstract Expressionists by people like Warhol and, in England, Kitaj and Bacon. Also, an artist who was the epitome of the UK’s pop movement: Allen Jones.
Allen is a painter and printmaker and sculptor. His prints go for many thousands, so he was always going to be a long shot for our project.
As I said, I wanted the book to feel like a pop art reflection of consumer society. Rich was a huge fan of Allen Jones’ work, so when I found a way to reach out to him, Rich was thrilled. Allen knew the book and could see how his art could complement and enhance the story. Allen wanted to avoid the landscapes of the world and concentrate on the characters and the ‘advertising, medication, sex and entertainment’ that keeps them in check. Perfect. And, if he wasn’t a ‘traditional’ illustrator - he drew and painted and did prints like one.
Allen is a masterful colourist. Seeing Rich working with him was amazing, and to be part of seeing it come to fruition. I feel that they have created a work of pop art.
Allen gave us much more than we expected. We asked for a few colour pieces. He has ended up doing 29 colour images and dozens of black and white pictures, some full pagers and some spot illustrations.
He also came to us saying he had come up with an idea: In the book, the characters leave the comfort of the Brave New World to visit the indigenous people that ends up having a massive effect on them all. Allen came up with a colour section with cut-outs that took the reader from one world to another. It was ambitious and extraordinary! All very visual. An illustration of the journey both physically and mentally as a visual reading experience. Then, it was a question of how. How to actually make it and how to bind that visual journey into the book. This required a great deal of thinking outside of the box.
Q: Those who follow Areté Editions will know that you do multiple states of every book and this release will be no different, but with your background in the arts and your vision for what this book could be, you are doing something pretty unique with this release. Could you tell us a little bit about each tier of this release?
We are doing three editions. The first two will be traditional releases, Lettered and numbered. The bindings that Rich and Allen have created are stunning objects of Fine Press art. They are more like the normal size of books we make, like Coraline or Oz. They have colour images printed on the page and two colour letterpress (red and black) throughout. Decorations, like we did with the bees in Death and Honey, are printed in red highlighting the drug use. They have a colour section with cut outs that I mentioned above and a couple of the artworks are bound in as half pagers. It is one of the most visual books I have done.
Later we are doing an oversized, very large sized edition. This will be a totally different version of the book as it is done with metal text (which means a different reading experience) on handmade paper with Allen’s prints actually bound in. Prints which as a folio would be in a gallery. The cover has a sculpture bound into the cover, hand painted by Allen. This will be limited to thirty copies and, as you can imagine, it will be expensive to make but it will be a book that I feel will historically be considered as Art. The kind of book making not seen in many years. We are talking to The Royal Academy to exhibit the book and prints.
Q: This version is clearly going to blur the line and the distinctions between a fine press book with art and traditional art book. Where do you see this release falling on that continuum and how would you describe it?
Fine press books have always pushed the envelope with book making, indeed some of the ‘Art’ books by Picasso and others from a hundred years ago were actually more ‘traditional’ than some Fine Press books today. The books were made by craftspeople and handmade - like the books we, Arete, Lyra, Conversation Tree etc., make today. The artists, like Picasso, Balthus and Jacob Lawrence still mainly, illustrated them. Indeed, some of the Limited Edition Club books were much more adventurous than what we are doing. Think of Heart of Darkness with images by Sean Scully. Abstract artists like Motherwell, De Kooning, Sol Lewitt or Matisse that Limited Edition Club worked with. Fine Press books have always been at the forefront of ‘Art Books’!
I see Brave New World as part of the tradition of Fine Press books but not like some of those above because Allen’s images are much more explicit illustrations of the story than some of the abstract artists above. He draws and paints people as a kind of emotional image making that corresponds to the story. There really is no abstraction from Allen!
Q: Assuming you feel like the partnership with Allen Jones was a success and fulfilled a vision of yours from the start, are there any other modern living artists that you would like to collaborate with in the same sort of capacity?
I would love it if our world looked at artists outside of the traditional illustrators that we have all worked with for decades. We will always work with them of course, but we are constantly looking for new and different artists and art styles that can enhance the reading experience. I’d love to see some new voices illustrate books but they have to add meaning. I think Tracy Emin is doing some powerful prints at the moment, Chantal Joffe does extraordinary paintings, like Alice Neel’s work in Fall of the House of Usher. It’s all about finding the right book for the right artist. And a book that people will want to buy!
Phil Abel – Owner and Letterpress Printer
Q: As always, you will be the man at the helm when it comes to the letterpress printing of this upcoming release of Brave New World. Can you share with us how you and Marcelo work together on the interior layout and printing of an Areté release and what method you are using for the printing of this project?
The upcoming editions of Brave New World will be printed from photopolymer plates. When the design has been finalised, Marcelo sends us his InDesign file, which we impose; that is, position the pages so that when folded after printing, all the pages appear in the right order. We usually print eight pages on each side of a sheet, which will be the case with this book. Getting the imposition wrong would mean costly and time-consuming reprints, so there’s a lot of checking to do before plates are made.
The first step is to fold pieces of paper in the same way that the book will be folded, and then number the pages. For example, if the binder will fold each sheet as one sixteen-page section, we fold three times to make those sixteen pages. Once we’ve checked that all the page numbers are present and none have been duplicated, we can impose, which we do in an another InDesign file. The artwork for each page is placed in the position determined by the dummy. Each set of eight pages is numbered so that we can keep tabs on our work as we go along.
After imposition, we print an inkjet proof of the entire book on A3 paper. Each sheet is printed on both sides, as it will be when we get the book on press. We do this on an inkjet printer that only prints one side at a time, so we have to be careful to re-insert the paper the right way round when doing the second side. These proofs are then folded and trimmed and again checked that everything is in the right place.
Before we can make plates, we make negatives of each set of eight pages. They’re printed on film on a large-format, high-resolution Epson inkjet. The negatives are placed in the plate-making machine face down on a sheet of plate material and held tight to it with a vacuum system. Ultra-violet light is shone through the negative, which hardens the parts of the plate on which it falls. The plate is then moved to a water bath, where rotating brushes remove those parts of the plate that haven’t been hardened, leaving the relief printing surface. After drying, there is more exposure to ultraviolet light to harden the surface further and a thin, double-sided adhesive film is attached to the back. When we come to print the plate, the protective film attached to the adhesive is removed and the plate stuck to a mount, which is locked into the press for printing.
Some of our books have been printed from hot-metal setting, which is an even more elaborate and expensive process. When type-setting machines were invented, an operator typed the words on a special keyboard that punched holes in a paper tape. The tape controlled a separate casting unit, telling it which letter or space to cast next. That process is usually replaced by a computer these days, and decisions about hyphenation etc. are automated instead of being made by a time-served compositor. This can lead to some unacceptable word breaks, and there can be several rounds of checking of the software-generated proofs to get the setting right. Marcelo then uses these proofs to decide where the type will break on each page.
Before the type comes to Hand & Eye, we get long columns of proofs of the cast type, which have to be checked for casting errors. Once they have been corrected and the type sent to us, we start the long process of making up pages. The columns of type are divided up according to the layout, and each pair of facing pages are proofed again. These proofs are checked, too.
We make a folded dummy of the book as part of this process, too. When we come to print the book, it’s again used to position the pages. This time we move around pieces of metal and lock them into the press with expanding wedges called quoins.
Now all we have to do is get the ink onto the paper…
Rich Tong - Bookbinder
Q: We recently got to see a prototype of Brave New World while visiting you at the bindery and you are trying something unique with this particular release. You will be using one of Allen’s original pieces combined with a full leather binding on the boards, which I know has not been straightforward. How did this idea come about and what has been particularly challenging about this design?
The initial idea for it actually came about quite quickly, which makes a nice change! From the very beginning, I knew that this was to be Allen’s book and that the covers should absolutely represent him as an artist. The best way to do this was to use one of his pieces on the cover, if possible.
I was in a meeting with Allen, Marcelo and Leslie Gerry at Allen’s London home when the idea for the numbered edition binding first struck. It was an informal get together where all the ideas, bits of paper, laptops and everything were spread out on one big table and everyone was having a good chinwag about the project in general. I was flicking through the layout that Marcelo had recently put together and viewing much of the artwork for the first time when I came across the painting that we ended up using.
The colours of the dancing figures were so bold against the pale backdrop and I immediately pictured it as a full cover binding and I knew that I wanted to try it and see if it would work. It was so striking and graphic. Allen gave his blessing right away and thought it was a great idea, so I came back to the bindery with a bit of a plan. Unfortunately, after many attempts, we were unable to recreate the detail of shaded areas with foil blocking alone. Creating foil blocking dies requires black artwork only and the brass is etched very deep, so creating shade is almost impossible. The only way to really do it is with dots, but that comes with its own problems and would still never give us the finer detail we needed. After a period of dead-ends, we decided to pursue the idea of having the leather printed, which gave us surprisingly good, if rather expensive, results. So good, in fact, that I thought a very light red thumbprint and slight red smudge on the leather was due to me being careless with the newly printed leather. It turned out, after closer inspection, that it was actually a really accurate and detailed reproduction of the original artwork! The quality and detail of the printing are remarkable, especially considering that it is being printed on a soft, grained surface. There are loads and loads of tiny little splatters of paint all over the leather that you can see when you look closely at it.
Q: You have mentioned that you spent some time with the art of Allen Jones in university and went to exhibitions of his work as part of a course you were in. It must be really surreal to get to work with him so intimately. How has the experience been overall and what has been the most surprising thing about working with him?
The experience of working with Allen has been surreal – yes – but also a dream come true for me. As you say, during my time studying Fine Art at university, his name came up frequently. By that time (the late 1990’s/early 2000’s) he had firmly established himself as a Pop Art icon and was a senior academician at the Royal Academy of Arts.
I was aware of his connection to the furniture designs in the A Clockwork Orange film (or rather, his non-involvement as it ended up) and, related to that, his controversial sculptures for which he is perhaps best known. I remember attending art history lectures where we were asked to study and analyze his work. I developed a great interest in his art and over the years, I have visited multiple exhibitions and displays of his work around the world. He told me that he even had an open-air exhibition at Ludlow Castle, of all places. Unfortunately, that was shortly before I moved here so I didn’t make it to that one! I have always been a big fan of his work and I have always admired his paintings in particular. They are so vibrant and his use of colour is astounding.
Working with him on Brave New World has meant that we talk on the phone and message each other quite regularly, and he also invited me down to his studio which was such a wonderful experience. You should see his studio. Wow! It blew my mind. The sheer size of it is remarkable and it’s absolutely stuffed to the rafters with paintings and sculptures of all sizes. A proper treasure trove of art.
He has very much made this project feel like a true collaboration between us and that is extremely flattering. It is something that will stay with me forever. As a student of art, ‘collaborating’ with a famous (some might say infamous) artist that you have long admired has to be at the top of the list of things to do in your life. I am extremely honoured to have spent time working with him. He is a genuinely lovely, and generous man and I’ve enjoyed every moment.
Marcelo Anciano – (Owner, interior layout, overall design)
Q: Up to this point, you haven't had a formal rights system, but it sounds like you will be implementing that soon. How will your right system be structured and what led you to implement it at this point in time?
We are thinking of going a patron/rights route in order to eliminate the unknown of sales, especially in this current market. The world has changed and we have had quite a few collectors ask us to do so. I’m from the old school train of thought where one could just buy the books that they wanted and if a Fine Press brought out a title I wanted, I’d buy it. As a publisher, that doesn’t make sense now. One of our books in particular has been a slow, but very steady, seller. That means that our ability to create other books is put on hold and freezes our schedules. We need patrons to keep the press going. Each book needs to have about 85-90% sales to break even. If we sell less than that we have to wait until we have cash to keep going with the other books, bearing in mind that it takes at least two years to actually make the books! Because our customers are, in effect, supporting our press, not just buying a book, we wanted to thank them and acknowledge their support. The books we do with Lyra and Rich’s rights system prove to us that keeping a Fine Press running can work, especially as we are really the same team!
So, we’re thinking that everyone who has previously purchased our books will be offered the right to purchase Brave New World. It also means that anyone who takes up the offer won't have to speed purchase on the day they are put up for sale. If you have bought a numbered you will be offered a presale of BNW numbered and any future sales, if it has been a lettered/Roman you will be offered a Roman position. If you bought from Arete you will be contacted. This will set our limitation and we’ll sell a few more to the public depending on the patron’s desire for that particular title.
Q: Is there anything else you have coming in 2025 and beyond that you’d like to share or tease at all?
I’m working on some projects with Rich, coming is The Alchemist and we’re doing Carmilla, which is looking really tasty, and … an unannounced project. The book is blowing my mind with its colour. The artist is Leslie Gerry who worked with Allen Jones on the prints for Brave New World. I’m also doing Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for Anthony at Curious King. With Areté we are coming with Lud-in-the-Mist after Brave New World, another landmark forgotten fantasy novel that has influenced novelists for decades. It will also be amazingly rich with images.
This interview was done in a series of communications back and forth and we want to thank Marcelo for his time and encouragement. If you want to see more from Areté you can check them out at https://www.arete-editions.com/ and sign up for their mailing list to get periodic updates. You can also follow Areté on Facebook and Twitter.
Interview by: Zach Harney co-founder of the Collectible Book Vault
*Since there are often different spellings in American English and British English of the same words, we have chosen to adhere to the spelling of the person who is speaking rather than conform to one convention for the whole interview.
Fascinating interview!! This will be a beautiful edition. Hopefully, I can get the numbered, but My Kingdom for that lettered edition.
Excellent conversation Zach!