The Shakespeare Collection will be a modern set of William Shakespeare’s most popular work. We are publishing modern paperback editions of these classics with covers featuring contemporary art by talented London illustrator Rob Ball. At the initial funding goal, the collection will include Hamlet, arguably Shakespeare’s most popular play. Each stretch goal will add one title to the collection. Help us reach the stretch goals and fund all 39 of Shakespeare’s major works!

The modern design makes a bold statement when displayed prominently. 

 We believe that when you hold a book it’s as much a part of your style as the clothes you wear.

Like our previously published books, the cover layout and design will be modern and minimalist. The books will have a trim size of 5.5×8.5 inches, which is traditional trade paperback size. The cover material will be matte card stock. The back cover text will consist of a quote from the play in enlarged, fading text. 

The Hamlet cover art by Rob Ball is set in a house style that will span the entire collection. Rob’s meticulous technique is maintained from his similar work on the series for HBO’s Game of Thrones.  

Watch the video below to learn more about Rob’s approach to the project. 

REPRODUCIR

Below you can see some of the sketches that Rob brainstormed for the front cover of Hamlet. Funding the project will allow you to share your input and ideas with Rob through Kickstarter comments as he illustrates covers for any and all funded stretch goals. We will post all sketches provided by Rob to the community as updates and backers will be able to share their feedback.

The interiors will feature a clean, minimalist design. Each book in the collection will use this consistent house layout. The underlying manuscripts will be derived from the editions maintained by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

We want the books to reflect the historic, geographic, and cultural context of the author while also capturing our vision for modernizing the classics. To this end, we selected the Williams Caslon serif typeface designed by philosopher, author, and typographer William Berkson. Berkson meticulously revived the spirit of the typefaces produced by 17th century English typographer William Caslon and brought it into the 21st century. You can read more about the typeface and his creative decisions on this blog post. It allows for elegant and readable text appropriate for these modern editions. The layout will use cascading indents and straightforward emphasis to clearly delineate speakers and keep the eye easily focused.

 Each book will feature a unique frontispiece illustrated by Rob Ball.

 The layout utilizes significant white space to indicate scene headings.

For every $3,500 pledged a new title will be unlocked and made available as an option for backer rewards. 

You can mix and match rewards or add them to any backer level for the prices below. Just manually adjust your pledge amount to include the desired items. 

The electronic versions of the books in the collection will be optimized for Kindle, Nook, iPad and most other devices. They will be produced in .epub and .mobi formats.

Follow Us 

Thank you to everyone who supports this project and also to those who have supported us previously. If you would like to get in touch with us for any reason you can write to us at info@rockpaperbooks.com.

We would like to extend a special thank you to Anna Chitashvili for appearing in our video, our videographer Josh Grabenstein, and the following additional people and organizations who helped make the  video and other media possible: Matthew Hermerding, Rob Chan, Daniel Laaper, Chris Rizzo, Justin Howell, The Willard Intercontinental Hotel, Baked and Wired.

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Source: ICNW