Heveningham Hall: Books
In late 2010 I arrived at Heveningham Hall to photograph its landscape and architecture beneath the light of the full moon. I continued photographing through 2011. In 2012, in concert with my client, I began working on a book that would collect and display the photographs. In 2013, the first edition of books was published; thirty hand-bound volumes. There are currently six editions of the Heveningham Hall books; 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018.
The Edition
There are six editions of the book to date: each year from 2013 to 2018. Each edition, from 2014 onwards (2013 was made in an edition of thirty), has twenty-eight books. Each book has the same production methods. Each book contains around two hundred photographs with title pages, titling and a preface. The cover is gilt debossed on the front, spine and verso. The cover design is intricate and proved a challenge to the binders. It needs a number of different brass stamps and many applications of gold leaf for each one.
Subjects
The book contains photographs of the landscape, architecture, people, projects and events of the country estate. There are a range of things happening throughout the year from building renovation to an annual concours d'elegance to farming to horticulture and much more. The overarching theme is the seasonal changes that can be seen so vividly in the Suffolk countryside in which the Hall is ensconced.
Materials
The book was designed with its primary location in mind; the Heveningham Hall library. It sits among beautiful tomes, many of which date from the same period as the house, the late eighteenth century. There are wonderful watercolour books in the library that depict flowers, landscapes, animals and such things, with breathtaking skill. These set a high bar for the book production to follow. The endpapers are hand made in New Mexico specially for this book. The verso of the cover features an extended version of the cover diagonal stud pattern. This studded pattern, on the front and verso, encloses of the contents of the book in a kind of symbolic gateway which can be opened to reveal a world within.
On the Morning Room Table
The "2013" book above sits beautifully on this table. The first photograph pictures the Hall at night in winter under a full moon. One of the main themes running through all of the books is the renovation of the East Wing. This has been astonishing to document. The pages pictured show it in the early stages. It is a feature of all of the books.
The Prefaces
Each book contains a preface. It seeks to introduce the reader to the themes and subjects in the book. Pictured here are all six prefaces to date.
Design & Production
The cover design is taken from a few photographs. I spotted in one of the photographs the sacrificial goat skull symbol on the entrance gate to the Hall. It was weather worn and tricky to make out the details. It has since been restored. I used a collage of this image of the braided leaves stuffed with berries with one I had of the plasterwork studio where a goat skull had been molded. I then used other elements from the photographs to inspire a neoclassical frontispiece. Each book is made after a mock-up has been put together to show the photograph layout and design elements.
In the Courtauld Institute Library
In the Heveningham Hall Library
Libraries
Two copies of Heveningham Hall 2013, the original book, sit within the Courtauld Institute of Art library and the National Art Library respectively. A full set of the books is in the Heveningham Hall library.