John Craig is our guide through mud and shingle as we visit the places Britten called home.
The Whittington Press; 1997; [61]pp; 345x245x20mm; 1kg; half bound in cloth with linocut-patterned paper sides; in grey paper and cloth covered slipcase; relief prints throughout; limited to 440 copies.
Benjamin Britten was one of the pre-eminent British composers of the twentieth century. His name is intimately associated with the Suffolk town of Aldeburgh, where he both lived and founded the Aldeburgh Festival. In Britten’s Aldeburgh, published by the Whittington Press, John Craig takes us, via short passages of text and a series of relief prints, on a guided journey through Aldeburgh and the surrounding areas.
The book’s production was limited to 440 copies, issued in three “states” (versions):
- Here I have the most common (and least costly) C state, which is half bound in grey cloth with paper sides printed with an enlarged linocut by Craig.
- The B state, limited to 60 copies, is half bound in Oasis leather and comes with a separate portfolio containing prints of a subset of the engravings.
- Finally, the 28-copy A state was bound in morocco leather with transparent vellum over a linocut design. The binding was by James Brockman in an overall design contrived by Brockman and Craig. It comes with a portfolio containing prints of the engravings.
Focusing on the C state: although the materials are ostensibly ordinary, one’s immediate impression is that this book feels exceptionally well-made. This extends beyond the volume itself to the included slipcase, whose corners are clean and sharp like everything has been fitted together with exacting precision. The slipcase is covered in paper with cloth top and bottom ends. The book has a simple paper title label inset on the spine and the top edge of the text block is stained blue. It’s an unpresuming presentation, but one that feels great to handle and oozes unpretentious sophistication.
The book is printed on Zerkall mould-made paper. This is a special making of the paper with a hot-pressed finish. Normally, I am a big fan of Zerkall’s rougher papers. But in this instance the smooth surface lends a certain attractive sheen to the engravings. The engravings are accompanied by text set in 13-point Poliphilus and Blado in ochre ink.
The stars of the show here are without doubt John Craig’s relief prints. There are 81 wood engravings printed in black from the blocks directly onto the page (except a couple of panoramic engravings printed on fold-out sheets that are tipped-in). There are an additional three fold-out two-colour linocuts printed on a variety of oriental papers. Three things to know about these illustrations: they are generous in number, exquisitely detailed, and expertly reproduced. Books like this are all about immersing the reader with a particular sense of place, placing a heavy burden of responsibility on the illustrator. Fortunately, the news is good. From sun-dappled lane to windswept coast, the images carry more atmosphere than a simple monochrome engraving has any right to.
Married to the illustrations, the text of the volume falls into two parts. First comes introductory material that provides, by way of background, a description of the book’s genesis as well as a kind of biographical sketch of Britten, his connection to Aldeburgh, and his working methods. This material occupies the first [12] pages. One has the sense that Craig did his research and the introductory sections are clearly more than a mere formality. This is followed by a sequence of guided walks around the lanes and beaches frequented by Britten. The text is short but evocative, and punctuated with details that lend it personality. The following example is typical:
On the shore the fishing boats
form an uneven row – a tidal flotsam that
has not changed in a century.
Around the boats heaps of gear
are littered on the beach – some of
the older shreds of rope, bits of iron
and timber too old to work are left to
rot or rust away and end their useful lives
merging back into the shingle.
John Craig, Venice.
By way of conclusion, we are offered a few brief pages detailing other places of importance to Britten. The text is sparse and there’s an artistry to how it is presented on the page, such that each page—illustrations and text together—forms a complete artistic composition. Occasionally punctuating the text are also reproductions of some of Britten’s musical scores. There’s method at work here too: these are examples, explains Craig, of ground bass—a kind of “musical background”. A connection is thus drawn to the landscape described in the book, which served as a background for Britten’s work. This is a clever touch, albeit one sadly wasted on a reader who wouldn’t know an oboe from his elbow.
The book concludes with a limitation page bearing an engraving and details of the different states. It is signed by the author and hand-numbered.
I’d be loath to end this review without underlining how enamoured I have become with this book. There is something peculiarly intoxicating about the combination of craftsmanship, artistry and composition on display here, which result not only in an object of beauty, but also an immersive sense of connection with a small slice of coastal England and its cultural heritage. ■
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Miscellaneous
Britten’s Aldeburgh was featured in News of books from Whittington, Number Three, January 1997.
The Ubiquitous Book blog 
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