Gabriel Hemery's Blog: Gabriel Hemery, page 33

In retrospect: Sylva

Gabriel Hemery:

An article by Gabriel Hemery celebrating the 350th anniversary of John Evelyn’s 1664 Sylva has been published in the international weekly journal of science Nature. From Gabriel Hemery’s blog:

Originally posted on Gabriel Hemery:

Hemery, In retrospect: Sylva. Nature, 507, 166–167, (13 March 2014), doi:10.1038/507166a

My article celebrating the 350th anniversary of John Evelyn’s 1664 Sylva has been published in the international weekly journal of science Nature.

If you subscribe to the journal you can read it in full – read the article here

Hemery, G (2014) In retrospect: Sylva. Nature, 507, 166–167, (13 March 2014), doi:10.1038/507166a

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Unwrapping the first copy of The New Sylva

Author Gabriel Hemery has made a short film of the moment that he unwraps the first bound copy of The New Sylva (read more here). It offers a first glimpse inside the book for our future readers.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The New Sylva on Goodreads

One advance copy of The New Sylva is available for one lucky winner on Goodreads. The copy will be signed by both authors, and will be dispatched one week before the official publication date on April 10th.

The New Sylva
by Gabriel Hemery and Sarah Simblet

Giveaway ends April 02, 2014.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win
Good luck!

The NEW SYLVA book in the author’s hands

The New Sylva book in-hand

Today – by chance World Book Day – the first bound copy of The New Sylva arrived in the author’s hands from Bloomsbury Publishing.

It is a strange emotion unwrapping and viewing for the first time the fruit of several years labour. A mixture of joy and pleasure, immense satisfaction, and a real sense that something has finally been achieved. It seems a good time also to reflect on how many people have supported Sarah and I in bringing this book to reality.

Seeing it for the first time has made me proud of the unbeatable team behind the book – and a team effort is exactly what it has been. The journey started over four years ago when Sarah and I started to shape an idea for the book. We met three and a half years ago with literary agent Rosemary Scholar. Commissioning of the book by Bloomsbury led us to work directly with their editorial team; first with senior commissioning editor Richard Atkinson, and later overseen with such aplomb by Natalie Bellos (nee Hunt). Subsequently also at Bloomsbury: Alison Glossop, Marina Asenjo, Lynsey Sutherland and Madeleine Feeney, who all put in so much hard graft behind the scenes. Other essential members of the team were book designers Peter Dawson and Louise Evans of Grade Design, copy editor Rachael Oakden, proofreader Barbara Roby, and indexer Vicki Robinson. Regular readers of this blog will recognise many of these names.

The book would also not have come together without the support of tree and forest owners, scientists, artists and members of the public. We trust that the book will satisfy them and our future readers. Perhaps we will see some of you at the author events during the year?

We look forward to official publication day on April 10th. Note that you can pre-order your signed copy today.

Gabriel Hemery

A successful press pass at the printers

First press pass of The New Sylva. Photo Grade Design.

Printing of The New Sylva has begun at the printers Soler Tallers Gràfics in Barcelona, Spain. The first press pass has been completed successfully, overseen by book designers Grade Design. This is the stage at which the printing quality is checked for the first time on the chosen paper, inspecting for ghosting, hickeys and scums etc., plus correct colour rendition, and page ordering.

Everyone involved is looking forward to the next stage – the production of the first bound copy.

Sales sheet for The New Sylva

Sales sheet for The New Sylva (click to enlarge)

Bloomsbury Publishing have released the sales sheet for The New Sylva. The book will be shrink-wrapped in the shops (although many may have a display copy), and this sheet will replace the back cover to provide more insight into the book, including thumbnails of selected spreads.

The New Sylva is now available to pre-order in many online stores. It is also available to pre-order a signed copy (by both authors) in the shop of the Sylva Foundation – and your money will support their charitable work caring for forests.

Final cover design revealed

Final cover design for The New Sylva. Photo: Grade Design

Book designers, Grade Design, have been making the finishing touches to the final cover design for The New Sylva.

This is the first time that we can reveal the design of the back cover, which depicts a scene visited by the authors during their Scottish drawing expedition in 2012. The drawing by Sarah Simblet was made at Pucks Glen, where ‘exotic’ conifer trees are beginning to resemble behaviour seen in old growth forests among their native range in North America.

The book will be shrink-wrapped in the shops, the rear being covered by a separate ‘sales sheet’, which will provide a description of the book along with some illustrative spreads. We hope to be able to share this with you soon.

Join us at events across Britain and Ireland

During 2014 we will be celebrating the 350th anniversary of Evelyn’s Sylva, and the publication of The New Sylva, by holding a number of events across Britain and Ireland.

We’ve created a new Events page on our website to feature these, and help guide readers who may be interested in attending an event. Information will be updated regularly as new events are confirmed and more details available (such as dates and booking).

Currently, the events include literary festivals where both authors will be talking and available to sign books, fine art exhibitions at four botanic gardens, and woodland trails at two arboreta.

Read more about our Events.

Authors to speak at Oxford Literary Festival

Oxford Literary Festival 2014

Both authors, Gabriel Hemery and Sarah Simblet, will be talking about the creation of The New Sylva at the Oxford Literary Festival.

The event is scheduled for 2pm on Wednesday 26th March. Full details have yet to be announced but will published on the Oxford Literary Festival website soon.

Read more about our scheduled Author Events during 2014

The New Sylva is available to pre-order

We are pleased to announce that The New Sylva is available to pre-order via the online shop of the Sylva Foundation.

The New Sylva – available to pre-order

Readers buying via the charity’s website, will not only be able to purchase the book at a very competitive price, but can select to have the book signed by Gabriel Hemery.

Also, all proceeds of these sales will go towards Sylva’s charitable work caring for forests.

Pre-orders are now being accepted. Books will be dispatched from April 3rd onwards (publication date April 10th 2014). www.sylva.org.uk/shop