There’s a wonderful interview with our book production manager, Karen Small of Small But Mighty Productions, on Sophie Masson’s Feathers of the Firebird blog. Karen talks about all the immense amount of work that goes on behind the scenes of producing a very special book like Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff. You can read the interview here.
Two events in April to celebrate Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff!
Here at Eagle Books, we are really looking forward to the publication in April of the beautiful limited edition of Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff! To celebrate, we will be holding two fabulous free events in Sydney: the official launch on April 13 at the Alliance Francaise in the CBD; and a book reading/signing/exhibition at Berkelouw Books in Leichhardt. Invitations with full details are below–all very welcome!
For the Wednesday event at the Alliance Francaise, please book here. For the Thursday event at Berkelouw’s, please RSVP to the address on the invitation.
Our beautiful book mentioned in the Sydney Morning Herald!
We are delighted that our beautiful book, and its creators, have received a mention in today’s Sydney Morning Herald, in Susan Wyndham’s Undercover column in Spectrum. You can read it online here.
We will soon have more details about the two celebratory events to be held for the book in April: the launch at the Alliance Francaise on April 13 at lunchtime, and a book reading and signing in Berkelouw’s Books in Leichhardt on the evening of April 14. The translator Stephanie Smee and the illustrator David Allan will be at both events.
An exciting moment!
We got a lovely surprise the other day when our fabulous book production manager Karen Small of Small but Mighty sent us some photos of finished copies, complete with all embellishments, of Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff, taken in the printer’s warehouse in China from where they’ll be shipped later this month.
We are so thrilled with the look of the book, it is exactly what we hoped for–a gorgeous luxury look reminiscent of the magnificent 19th century 
editions of Verne’s work. At only 750 hand-numbered illustrated copies, this limited edition is truly going to be a collector’s piece! Remember, you can pre-order direct from us, see here, till release date in April 2016.
Afterwards the book can also be ordered direct from us–if of course there are still copies left!
Very best wishes to everyone for a happy and peaceful time in the festive season.
Cover reveal of Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff!
Drum–roll: we are delighted to unveil to you the gorgeous front cover of Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff! With its deep red textured background, gold foil stamping and the beautiful inset cover illustration, we believe it is a truly elegant first impression of the delights within.
Here we’d like to pay tribute to the amazing design team of David Allan and Beattie Alvarez, who worked long hours to create the most beautiful design possible.
Production files now off to printer’s!
Very exciting–we have now sent off the digital files for Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff to the printer! Quite a long way to go yet in production, with ozalids(digital proofs), printing and all the associated extras to come, but it was wonderful to see the complete files of what is going to be an absolutely sumptuous book!
In next week or two, we’ll be uploading a pic of the splendid cover but in the meantime, here’s the finalised back cover blurb, to whet your appetite:
Russia, late 19th century. The Empire is in great peril, and only one man can save it: the bold and resourceful young messenger Mikhail Strogoff. In a desperate race against time, he must face great dangers if he is to deliver his warning, as foreign armies mass on the border and a traitor lurks ready to strike. But is it already too late?
The first full English translation in over a hundred years of legendary author Jules Verne’s thrilling adventure novel.
Update on Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff
Sophie Masson here, co-director of Eagle Books. We thought you might appreciate an update on what’s been going on here as we work on our wonderful project.Stephanie Smee has now finished her translation and delivered the entire manuscript of the text and it is currently in the editorial and proof-reading process. It’s an absolutely fabulous translation which completely captures the verve and spirit of Verne’s original and it’s been such a pleasure for me to reread a book I read with such enjoyment in French recreated in perfectly-pitched English–almost like discovering it yet again!
Meanwhile, art director and illustrator David Allan is working away at the pictures which will accompany the text. He has made the decision to create full page black and white illustrations scattered throughout the book, instead of thumbnail pictures at the beginning of each chapter as we’d previously planned. This is a design decision which we believe will only enhance the book. As well, beautiful coloured endpapers featuring a map of Mikhail’s journey are currently being designed by Fiona McDonald and Beattie Alvarez. It’s all looking wonderful!
Mikhail Strogoff in the theatre–then and now!
![WP_20150608_001[1]](https://eaglebooksadventure.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/wp_20150608_0011.jpg)
Sub-heading reads, ‘the traitor Ivan Ogareff’
Sub-heading reads ‘God gives ineffable consolations for the afflicted’
But the appeal of Verne’s books still translates well to the theatre: if you are in Paris this October, you might like to go and check out the brand new musical, Le voyage extraordinaire de Jules Verne, featuring a 13 year old author voyaging in the world of his own books in an amazing and lively adventure!
Full colour cover illustration of Mikhail Strogoff!
A very exciting update to unveil today–the completed, full colour illustration by David Allan for the cover of the limited edition of Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff! Isn’t it just gorgeous! Imagine it inset into the deep red background of the hard cover–it’s going to look just stunning.
Poring over old maps
When you’re translating a work such as Jules Verne’s Mikhail Strogoff, which is such an epic journey across so much country, it’s as well as to keep a good grasp of geography, and that’s exactly what Stephanie Smee has been doing. But it’s not just maps per see she has to look at and pore over; it’s actually old maps, for while geography itself might not have changed, political geography has, and the map of the Russian Empire in 1876 looks very different to the map of the Russian Federation today. Here she is with one of those lovely old maps she’s been consulting–and next to that, a copy of the original edition of the book, which she’s been using as her base text.
Eagle Books 