Cambridge Canvas | ‘Funny, witty, beautifully written, more than beautifully illustrated, everything such a book can be’

‘A home without a copy of Gwen Raverat’s Period Piece is like a home without a cat – lacking an essential cheering and comfortable element . . .’

Greetings from Hoxton Square, where the winter issue is racing out of Foxed HQ in Royal Mail bags at a frenetic pace. This issue, full of the usual goodness, dons a design by Cambridge Imprint on its cover, featuring a fox prancing through a snowy landscape. Cambridge Imprint is a partnership of three artist sisters who design pattern paper, ceramics and textiles with characteristically joyful illustration and typography. We are delighted to let you know that they have kindly offered a discount for Slightly Foxed newsletter subscribers. Details can be found at the bottom of this page.

To honour this cover, we thought that we ought to pay homage to Cambridge – one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and one we are fond of at Foxed, having launched our edition of Nigel Slater’s Toast there earlier this year.

Period Piece by Gwen Raverat is a deliciously funny, affectionate and atmospheric picture of life in the small world of nineteenth-century academic Cambridge among the eccentric Darwin clan. Illustrated with Gwen’s own delightful drawings, Period Piece not only brilliantly captures a moment in time but also shows us the making of the artist Gwen was to become. As Rose Macaulay wrote when it was first published, it is ‘funny, witty, beautifully written, more than beautifully illustrated, everything such a book can be’.

Please scroll on to read SF editor Hazel Wood’s article on this memoir which was featured in issue 40, and for a selection of some of our most beautifully illustrated books, ready to buy as a treat for yourself or a heartfelt gift for a loved one this Christmas.

With thanks and best wishes

Isabel, Rebecca, Ruth, Edie & Jennie

PS Everything listed on our website can be sent to you or directly to a gift recipient for Christmas, but please note the list of advised domestic and international last posting dates on our website.

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