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Oak Tree Fine Press

 I've recently been privileged to see an extract from "Northern Lights", the fight between the bears Iorek Byrnison and Iofur Raknison, transformed into an object of astonishing beauty - several of them, in fact. A small publisher, Oak Tree Fine Press, has commissioned a number of superbly talented bookbinders to make editions of this piece, which I called A Outrance (the old term for a fight to the death). You can see the results at 

http://www.oaktreefinepress.com

On 15 December the Bodleian Library in Oxford is going to hold a small temporary exhibition of the most spectacular of these books. They are for sale at auction, and i hope they will reach equally spectacular prices, though there are two simpler and less expensive )though themselves very beautiful) editions as well. They're all illustrated with wood engravings by several artists, and signed by the artists and by me.

Normally I'd feel a little equivocal about being published in an edition that very few people can afford. The reason I agreed to this was that all the proceeds are going to benefit children in Africa with HIV/AIDS. It seems a wonderful way of both making exquisite and unique objects and bringing help to children who desperately need it.

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