Lyra's Books

31/05/2026

Areté Editions are taking orders from their Patron rights holders until 5pm BST (UK time) today for their latest release of Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees. All rights holders will have received an email with a purchase link, so check your inboxes (including spam folders) if you’re expecting one of those.

The public pre-order goes live on their website 2 June.
www.arete-editions.com

This title is limited to Numbered and Lettered editions only and contains over 40 incredible artworks by Scott McKowen. Bindings designed by myself and Scott, using historic paper marbling patterns by Payhembury, UK.

If you have any questions about the sale, please contact Arete Editions directly

29/05/2026

Just a couple more stacks of books to complete and that’s the Numbered edition of Don’t Look Now finished.

We’re in the final stages of binding the Lettered edition at the moment and when that is done we will start the process of packing and shipping. All of our boxes and foam arrived earlier in the week, so we’re all set! Hopefully all will be finished in the next couple of weeks so I’ll be sending out “have you moved emails” at some point next week.

Thanks for your patience and have a great weekend!

15/05/2026

Happy Friday everyone! Here's a few pics of Don't Look Now in the bindery.

All book blocks are now trimmed, dressed and prepped and are being 'cased in'. You can see we now have some stacks of (nearly) completed books for the Numbered edition. These books still need the second, leather label to be affixed to the front board. The first, red paper label is already affixed. There are also about 15 pages in each book that need cutting down to tabs inside.

The red solander box trays are all covered and are being stuck into the blue cases. The only thing left to do with them is to affix the leather labels to the spines. We foil blocked the labels last week, which was about 700 passes of blocking.

For the Lettered edition - all chemises are made and foil blocked. The portfolios are currently being foil blocked and then need lining with the pockets. The books themselves are pretty much finished, so all we need to do then is make the solander boxes.

We're getting there!

Have a lovely weekend!! :)

06/05/2026

Greg’s original oil paintings for our edition of Oz are up for sale on his website!

https://www.gregmanchessshop.com/?fbclid=IwdGRleARobJ5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEe0h3RzIh57mW7U2zQNmqeCx5xa6deBkfgLkj6-yNtBqKv6NwtU8rxpaTXcJo_aem_zutkfwZsIIyqkvshRwQziA

15/04/2026

From Paulo himself 🧡

15/04/2026

15/04/2026

14/04/2026

I’m extraordinarily pleased to say that The Alchemist picked up the award for Best British Book tonight at the book awards.

Frozen Hell for Areté Editions won the award for Fine Binding.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was also Highly Commended in a couple of different categories.

A great night out with some great chums!

Curious King Books Conversation Tree Press St James Park Press Ludlow Bookbinders Extraordinary Editions Hurtwood Books The Folio Society

10/04/2026

Here’s a few production photos of Don’t Look Now.

Over the last week or so we have been busy building the bradel bound cases (covers) for both the Numbered and Lettered editions, which require a huge number of different processes.

A number of book blocks have been prepared (sewn, end papered and glued up) with tabs cut down and double/triple page artwork tipped in.

We have also been building the trays for the solander boxes for the Numbered edition (the cases for these are already completed and foil blocked). Once the trays are finished we can start sticking them in.

In the midst of all of this, I have been producing the prototypes for both Carmilla and Arete Editions' forthcoming Lud-in-the-Mist, both of which should go on sale in the next couple of months. I have also been preparing the advance copies of Arete's Brave New World so it is ready to start production as soon as we've shipped Don't Look Now.

Thank you for your patience with this title! It's taking a bit longer than expected but we are getting there slowly but surely. There's lots happening all at the same time!

Have a great weekend everybody! Book awards next week... 😬😬

19/03/2026

Yesterday, I was asked if I had any hints for what might be on the horizon after Don’t Look Now.

For the Press imprint… well… I will announce the next title fairly soon but I did give a little clue in reply to yesterday’s question. I’m not very good at clues so this might give the game away too easily! I have no idea! Anyway, here it is -

“This title is one of the late 20th century’s most celebrated, prize winning novels. It’s a bona fide masterpiece that made the author a literary superstar. They are still among the living greats, so they will be signing the books!”

That's all I will say for now. I will announce it properly fairly soon, but happy guessing until then!

For the Classics imprint, Carmilla will be the next title. I think that the sale for that will happen in the next couple of months. Ideally, I would like to get Don’t Look Now finished and delivered beforehand. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf will follow Carmilla in this imprint. I hope to have that title for sale some time before the end of the year. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad will follow that, some time next year.

I don't know what photo to put alongside this post so here's a photo of Lyra :)