Wolf Hall Book

In January 2013 we were approached by a production company and asked to undertake some work for the forthcoming BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall. Our brief was to produce a fully bound book that would serve as a Book of Hours belonging to one of the principal characters, Thomas Cromwell's wife Liz. It would be used in frequent close-up shots and therefore had to stand up to scrutiny. The book was to appear as though it had been handed down to Elizabeth from an earlier generation, so the aim was to produce a book that was typical in style of the period c.1480-1500. The book needed to be fully functioning as it would be opened frequently to reveal a number of illuminated pages and the remaining blank pages of the book had to blend in with the parchment of this illuminated insert. It was just the sort of challenge we enjoy! Above is the finished book, bound in blind-tooled hand-dyed calf, in a style that is typical of the last years of the fifteenth century and using the same techniques and materials used in that period.  Below is an image of Sir Mark Rylance holding the book.