The British Book Design and Production Awards
Beowulf - Finalist in the 2026 (April 14 2026)
Category Excellence in Printing
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Below is the written submission required for entry in this category:
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Published in August 2025, The Morris Edition is not a facsimile but an homage to the William Morris and A. J. Wyatt translation of Beowulf, first printed on 1 February 1895 in 300 limited editions and eight vellum copies. Our Morris Edition reimagines those 300, while our Octad Edition corresponds to the eight vellum originals. This is a wholly British production, realised through the collaboration of these master artisans and traditional suppliers across the country:
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Design and Layout: Books Illustrated, Salisbury
Letterpress Plate Production: Hand & Eye, London
Letterpress Printing: Nomad Letterpress, near Cheltenham
Paper Supply: G. F. Smith, Hull
Leather Supply: Lyon Leathers, Northampton
Cover Fabrics (William Morris “Peacock and Dragon” design): Crafty Fabrics, Rochford
Binding: Ludlow Bookbinders, Ludlow
Illustration: Alice Cao, Shrewsbury
How is your organisation’s book production process innovative and progressive?
At Books Illustrated our philosophy could be called “progressive traditionalism.” For us, innovation does not mean discarding the past—it means perfecting and honouring it.
Beowulf: The Morris Edition embodies this ethos. Our aim is to create an edition that unites the wealth of artistry, skill, and material quality that William Morris himself would have admired. Our innovation lies in a hybrid approach, melding the excellence of historic craftsmanship with the tools, materials, and precision of the 21st century.
Innovation in Pre-Press and Typography
The process begins in Adobe inDesign, using Morris Troy, the very font William Morris designed for his 1895 edition, complete with authentic drop caps and ornamental flourishes. Morris’s notes are highlighted using Whittington Orange, a tone long favoured by Nomad Letterpress in their prestigious works. Working closely with Hand & Eye, we produced photopolymer plates tested and refined to ensure the finest quality impression on archival-quality, acid-free Munken paper—particularly to preserve the delicate linework of the illustrations. These plates allow for clarity, consistency, and typographic perfection beyond that which was possible with the hand-cast type of the 1890s.
Innovation in Artistic Patronage
This edition is not a facsimile but a wholly new artistic statement. We commissioned 18 original pen-and-ink illustrations from Alice Cao, whose style evokes artists such as Henry Justice Ford and Walter Crane. By commissioning a traditional illustrator whose work harmonises with but does not imitate Morris’s aesthetic, we uphold his ideals of artistry and craftsmanship—adding new art to the world rather than merely reproducing the old. Innovation in Print Execution Our press is no museum relic, but a precision instrument: a 1968 Heidelberg Cylinder Press—the zenith of analogue print engineering. By pairing our modern, digitally derived plates with this machine, we achieve an exceptional double-pass impression using dense lamp-black and Whittington Orange inks. This fusion of 21st-century design and mid-20th-century mechanical mastery creates a page that is tactile, luminous, and rich—faithful to Morris’s spirit while surpassing the technical limits of his time.
What makes your book production sustainable? We define sustainability in two ways: physical permanence and cultural permanence.
Sustainability as Physical Permanence.
The most unsustainable book is one designed to be disposable. The mass-market industry’s reliance on acidic papers, petroleum inks, and plastic laminates ensures decay. We reject this model entirely. Beowulf: The Morris Edition is printed on 170 gsm archival quality, acid-free Munken paper, whose fibres come from sustainably managed forests. The mills operate under renewable-energy principles and circular-economy practices that ensure environmental stewardship. Our inks are pure, carbon-based lamp-black. Binding boards are archival-grade. The edition is quarter-bound in natural, vegetable-tanned goatskin from Lyon Leathers, Northampton—a biodegradable material proven to last centuries. Vegetable tanning, using tannins from tree bark, produces leather that is both environmentally responsible and enduring. This book is not a disposable product; it is an artefact made to last for generations. Its sustainability lies in its permanence—it will never need to be replaced.
Sustainability as Cultural Permanence
True sustainability extends beyond materials—it also means preserving human skill. The crafts of letterpress printing, hand-binding, and traditional illustration are endangered. Our model ensures these disciplines remain viable by creating a commercial purpose for their continuation. By commissioning new art and collaborating with master artisans, we sustain not just a book, but the living ecosystem of scholarship, artistry, and craftsmanship that defines the British fine press tradition.
How do you influence the supply chain to support better choices in design, pre-press, and finishing?
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As a fine press publisher, we do not exert influence through volume but through patronage. Every decision we make affirms the commercial and cultural value of heritage craftsmanship. Influencing Through Patronage of Heritage Suppliers
We intentionally source from suppliers who preserve traditional methods. Our commitment to their highest-grade, archival-quality materials sustains their incentive to maintain time-honoured tanning, papermaking, and finishing processes.
Influencing by Creating a Market for Master Artisans
Our supply chain is composed of individual craftspeople, not industrial vendors. We choose the best, not the cheapest.
Printing: Working once more with Pat Randle and Ellen Bills at Nomad Letterpress, whose craftsmanship made this fully letterpress edition of Beowulf, both text and illustrations, a carefully considered achievement.
Bookbinding: We commissioned Ludlow Bookbinders to execute the complex binding design, directly supporting a workshop renowned for its mastery.
Artwork: Our collaboration with Alice Cao ensures a cohesive visual identity that integrates traditional technique with modern artistry.
In essence, Books Illustrated influences the supply chain not by driving costs down, but by demonstrating that a market still exists for quality. We insist on archival materials, traditional craftsmanship, and human excellence—and by doing so, we help sustain the very crafts and suppliers that make such excellence possible.
