MALMESBURY

Deeds of the English Kings

A special Folio Society edition of William of Malmesbury's The Deeds of the English Kings.

The inspiration for this book came from a trip to Lambeth Palace to see one of Malmesbury's own manuscripts written in his hand. From here, the design opportunities with this book started to form. Unlike other editions, which are aimed at a more academic audience, and set in Latin, this edition could be aesthetically different to give the reader a flavour of the original illuminated manuscripts while creating something that was accessible and easy to read.

The book was printed in two-colour throughout, using red illumination, and redrawn initial letters from Malmesbury's own manuscript.

The main text typeface was carefully selected, to be both appropriate for the text and comfortable to read. I opted for Minion, a 20th century face with readable letterforms to compliment the initial letters and display faces. Extracts are set in Givry, to reflect the delicate, stylistic bâtarde flamande writing in the original manuscripts. Chapter numbers are printed in red and set in Clairvaux. The simplistic and angular appearance of the numerals are easy to distinguish from the main text, and its irregular letterforms complement the hand-drawn initial letters.