Griffin and Sabine, Sabine's Notebook, and The Golden Mean by Nick Bantock

The Griffin and Sabine books are my latest reading project. I call it a project because I plan to read one book right after the other. And then read them again.

These books hold much more than a story though. They are a feast for my senses. They have everything I love: handwritten letters, postcards, stamps, colorful, albeit sometimes strange, illustrations. There is so much creativity on these pages written and embellished by Nick Bantock that I am dazzled. 

I have read through the first book of correspondence between Griffin, a London postcard artist, and Sabine, a woman living on a South Pacific island with her own artful style. What fun it is to actually open an envelope and read a letter written by one or the other.

How these two came into each other's worlds you will just have to find out for yourself. I wouldn't dare spoil the surprise. 

I was working in an independent bookstore in 1991 when the first of these books came out. It was terribly popular and caught my eye but for some reason, although I loved the look of its gorgeous pages, I just never took the time to give it more than a cursory glance.

Now is my chance. 

After these three, there is also The Morning Star Trilogy that continues the story of these artistic correspondents. And just this year, a seventh book, The Pharos Gate, has been published. You can see what I mean about this being a project!

Here are a few close-ups of the delights contained in this world of Griffin and Sabine:

A stamp in bloom

A handwritten letter - in fountain pen, no less - from Sabine

A closeup of one of the fanciful postcard drawings

Even the end papers are intriguing

And a Postscript:

Oddly, this envelope (not part of the book)

 with its handwritten message

was tucked into the pages of Griffin and Sabine. 

This on the heels of my post about finding

strange things in books!

Have you already been enchanted by Griffin and Sabine or will you be adding these works of art to your reading list?

Stamps and Stationery

A new supply of writing papers.

One of the nice things about my plan to write a letter or note each day in February, the Letter a Day Month, is that I have used up quite a bit of my stationery. Oh boy. That means I get to go shopping. Next to a bookstore, a stationery store is my favorite place to be. 

Here is what I picked up today at a shop called Paper Source: note cards with cheerful birds and a box of more sedate correspondence papers from Crane.

I love the eggs on the envelope liner of the note cards. 

The shop had lots of paper items to choose from but I kept my eye on the goal of note cards and writing paper. 

I have noticed that sometimes stationery manufacturers do too much for us by cluttering up writing papers, flat note cards, and specialty cards with garish designs leaving very little room to write our own news, sentiments, or thoughts. And I don't need a pre-printed thank you, birthday, or sympathy card. I can come up with my own heartfelt words, thank you very much.

That is why it is important for me to have a varied supply of stationery to suit every occasion. And a good fountain pen.

Yesterday, in the United Kingdom, Jane Austen stamps went on sale in honor of the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice. I checked the U.S. Postal Service site and see that in America we have stamps available that honor authors O. Henry, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and ten 20th century poets from Elizabeth Bishop to William Carlos Williams. 

Alas, no Jane Austen.

Here is what Ms. Austen had to say about letter writing:

Everyone allows that the talent of writing agreeable letters is particularly female.

Royal Mail's Jane Austen stamps