#Gormenghast folio society series#

English speaking culture) as well as the farrago of words I had to look up. But I loved all the unknown expressions (to a U.S. >21 Petrichory: Ha ha, yes, I got that impression from the context.

#Gormenghast folio society series#

Whether or not you enjoy fantasy, science fiction or imagined history, these books are a compelling read, and I wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone interested in good imaginative writing.Īn index of the other illustrated reviews in the 'Folio Archives' series can be viewed here. Mine is from 1992, but there was a second edition, in a slightly different binding, in 2011. There were two FS editions of the Gormenghast trilogy. Dark red and black three-volume slipcase titled in black on covers. Bound in white cloth printed with a wrap-around design in black by Harding. They are housed together in a slipcase 26.5x18.9x10.1cm., and are typeset in Ehrhardt, printed at the Bath Press on Monument Wove paper. The three volumes consist of Titus Groan (66 drawings 422 pages), Gormenghast (73 drawings 450 pages) and Titus Alone (53 drawings 247 pages). The excellent and innumerable drawings are by Peter Harding and there is a ten page introduction by Michael Moorcock.

These must be some of the most profusely illustrated books ever produced by the Folio Society, as there are a huge number of black and white drawings of the various scenes set in the book (I counted 16 in a random selection of 100 pages), but in none of the drawings are any of the principal characters depicted, these are left to the reader’s imagination.

It is a less satisfying read than the first two, but even here there are fascinating characters, such as Titus’ mentor Muzzelhatch. The third book, Titus Alone, takes the reader into a totally different time and place that is a confused mixture of the 13th. Slagg, Titus’s sister Fuchsia and the chef Swelter. Prunesquallor and the loyal servant Flay, to the anti-hero Steerpike, the nanny Mrs. All have unusually imaginative and descriptive names from the ever-present Dr. The characters are intricately described, and while some remain through a considerable part of the story, others disappear as suddenly as they arrive. The castle extends for miles and is a maze of often abandoned rooms, halls, passageways, stairways, tunnels, courtyards and walls. The action in the first two books is set around the massive and extensive stone castle of Gormenghast, its surrounding forest and village of the neighbouring mud people. The three books, Titus Groan, Gormenghast and Titus Alone (they should be read in that order) follow the life of Titus Groan, the 77th in a constant line of hereditary rulers over the mock medieval realm of Gormanghast. The books were written by Mervyn Peake between 19, but the third volume was not completed before his death, and has been built up into its final form by the editor Langdon Jones from the extensive notes left by Peake. In trying to describe the Gormenghast trilogy, my first thoughts were that it was cross between the Arthurian legends, Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings, but that it is not correct – it is just Gormanghast, a genre of its own.