Jan 26, 2022

Leslie Gerry Editions

Travel may be on hold at times during the Age of COVID but we're delighted to offer a luxurious alternative with a range of sumptuous fine press books from Leslie Gerry Editions. Leslie Gerry Editions is a private press based in the Cotswolds. Feast your eyes on his paintings of Havana, Venice, Stockholm, New York and Marrakesh, with A Trip Around Britian.... and lighthouse coming soon in 2022.

The Cotswolds have some of the world’s finest private presses, including the Whittington Press, Inky Parrot Press as well as Lesley Gerry Editions. In a way the fine presses continue the heritage of the arts and crafts movement of the 20s that centred around the Cotswolds.

Each of Leslie's limited edition art books feature his paintings alongside a leading author such as Jan Morris, Edith Wharton and Irene A Wright.

We're far from the only ones to recognise the quality of Leslie's work. Jan Morris actually suggested her text, Venice sit alongside his artwork for Venice Reflections.

John Buchtel curator at the Boston Athenæum showcasing Venice by Leslie Gerry

The book went on to win 'Best Digital Book' from the British Book Design and Production Awards. John Buchtel, the curator of rare books at the Boston Athenaeum Library used Venice Reflections as their first “Curator’s Choice Virtual Lecture”.

Leslie Gerry Editions has won further awards from The British Book Design & Production Awards, including 'Book of the Year' and 'Best Art Book' for Havana, despite stiff competition from publishers such as the Folio Society,

The cars of Cuba evoke the glamorous era of Jackie Kennedy, Norman Hartnell couture, winklepickers... and Che Guevara. Cubans were banned from importing anything other than food and medicine after the 1959 revolution and so they have been creatively maintaining the cars they owned then ever since. The cars are an integral part of the city and so for Leslie it was a natural segue to paint them. There are 12 individual signed limited edition prints available, such as these:

He has also been recognised by his peers at the Oxford Fine Press Fair, with Best Book of the Show for Portmeirion. Mark Dimunation, Chief, Rare Book & Special Collections, Library of Congress, told Leslie his copy of New York Reflections was his favourite book in the Library's Collection.

Just as 1950s cars are synonymous with Havana, New Yorkers and their dogs are interwoven in the minds of many visitors to the city. Hence, New Yorkers and Dogs. As Leslie says "They do love their dogs, which seem so well behaved, and quite social, unlike some country dogs in England!. But it is that synergy between dog and owner ... [he] finds so engaging. The body language, the fashion, particularly in winter. Also the interaction between owners and between the dogs themselves."

Two new books are currently in progress. A Voyage Round Great Britain 2021-2022 which will include about 40 paintings of coastal views, due Autumn 2022 and Lighthouse due earlier in 2022. Limited edition prints of both books are available now.

Most titles are available in Deluxe, Regular and Miniature Editions, as well as signed limited edition art prints of each painting.

Deluxe editions

Havana: A deluxe edition of 5 copies leather bound with large letters inlaid in leather on the front cover, sitting in a leather bound solander box which also contains 2 SIGNED metal plates (of cars) and a miniature book.

Venice Reflections: 30 copies, numbered 1 - 30, page size 56 x 35 cm, (22 x 13ins) case bound with printed cloth in a cloth covered solander box. The colour plates are printed with a flat-bed UV digital printer at Fine Print on Moulin du Gue mould-made paper. The text is set in 19-point Bauer Bodoni and printed on Zerkall mould-made paper by Leslie Gerry.

Marrakesh: 10 Deluxe Editions. 22 x 15 ins (56 x 38 cm), 96 pages, 30 full colour double-spread illustrations, printed on Moulin du Gue mould-made cotton / linen paper. Bound in full leather with a leather inlaid pattern on the cover. The book sits in a solander box covered in printed cotton, alongside an A3 set of 10 progressive prints simply bound.

New York Reflections: An enormous publication with 24 powerful colour plates dominating a 60 x 76 cm (22 x 30 inches) sheet. 5 copies are case bound with a leather quarter binding in a cloth covered and leather quarter bound solander box, inlaid with a full colour printed metal panel. Also included is a leather quarter bound portfolio of 10 large signed prints 57 cm x 76 cm.

Regular Editions

Regular editions are also available in each of the above titles - as well as New Yorkers and Dogs.

Miniature Editions

Miniature editions of New York Reflections, Venice Reflections, Marrakesh and Havana are also available.

Signed Limited Edition Paintings

Each painting is also offered as a signed limited edition art print. These are Giclée prints on mould-made paper.

Process

Here is Leslie, in own words, on his process and approach to creating the books and artwork.

"My principal medium is the artists book, from which I also produce limited edition prints. Architecture and the street life of a city fascinate me. I choose an unfamiliar place, spend 2-3 weeks of discovery, walking around, taking reference photos and sketching. That first exposure is so intense; with fresh eyes and heightened senses, you see things locals are often unaware of, which fade on subsequent visits.

Once back in my studio, a year of painting begins. With a stylus and Wacom tablet, I paint on the computer in Illustrator. Working only with flat areas of colour (CMYK) and no tone, I “cut out” colour shapes with the stylus, arranging them on different layers, creating a collage. In fact, I first began working this way years ago (before developing my computer skills) by cutting out sheets of coloured paper with scissors, similar to the way Matisse created his paper cut-outs. Matisse described it as “drawing with colour”. The paintings end up as digital files; vector images which can be reduced or enlarged to any size. Therefore there is no scanning, the files can be printed directly from the computer onto a mould-made paper, using a flat-bed UV inkjet printer. The images give a narrative to the book. My books are enormous (page size 38cm x 56cm) and are works of art in their own right."

Leslie collaborates with Paul Kidson of Ludlow Bookbinders for binding. This video shows Paul talking about three books, including Havana, that have won prizes at the British Book Awards.

Leslie was born in the UK and trained at Portsmouth Art College and Sydney College of Art, Australia. In his own words:

"In the 1970s and 80s I ran a successful design studio in London with my wife working on corporate design, publishing, brochures and museum graphics. A transformative move to the countryside in the Cotswolds allowed me the freedom, time and space to return to my first love, painting, drawing on my extensive experience in graphics and publishing."

As you can see from the accolades above we're not the only ones who are delighted that he has indeed returned to his first love.

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