Nick Bantock
Author of Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence
About the Author
Nick Bantock was born in Stourbridge, England on the 14th of July 1949. He went to school in the suburbs of North East London, and from there moved on to an art college in the market town of Maidstone, Kent. At the age of 23, he quit his job in a gambling house and began working as a freelance show more illustrator. In 16 years he produced approximately 300 book covers, including novels by Philip Roth and John Updike. During the winter of 1988 he moved to Vancouver Canada, and two years later started work on his own books. He is most well known for his Griffin and Sabine Trilogy, an artful representation of a long distance romance. His other works include The Artful Dodger: Images and Reflections (2000) - a visual autobiography, and retrospective, Urgent 2nd Class: Creating Curious Collage, Dubious Documents, and Other Art from Ephemera (2004) and Windflower (2006) - with Edoardo Ponti. (Bowker Author Biography) Nick Bantock is the author of numerous illustrated novels, most recently "The Artful Dodger" and the tenth anniversary, limited edition of "Griffin & Sabine". Born in England, he now lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Publisher Provided) show less
Image credit: Unattributed photo from author's website.
Series
Works by Nick Bantock
Sabine's Notebook: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Continues (1992) 2,604 copies, 34 reviews
The Golden Mean: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Concludes (1993) — Author — 2,459 copies, 36 reviews
The Gryphon : In which the extraordinary correspondence of Griffin & Sabine is rediscovered (2001) — Author — 1,206 copies, 14 reviews
The Venetian's Wife: A Strangely Sensual Tale of a Renaissance Explorer, a Computer, and a Metamorphosis (1996) — Author — 1,060 copies, 21 reviews
Alexandria : In which the extraordinary correspondence of Griffin & Sabine unfolds (2002) 926 copies, 12 reviews
The Morning Star : In which the extraordinary correspondence of Griffin & Sabine is illuminated (2003) 823 copies, 8 reviews
The Griffin & Sabine Trilogy Boxed Set: Griffin & Sabine/Sabine's Notebook/The Golden Mean (1991) — Author — 822 copies, 12 reviews
Urgent 2nd Class: Creating Curious Collage, Dubious Documents, and Other Art from Ephemera (2004) 412 copies, 6 reviews
Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence, Tenth Anniversary Limited Edition (2001) — Author — 343 copies, 7 reviews
Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence, 25th Anniversary Limited Edition (2016) 212 copies, 17 reviews
Ceremony of Innocence: The Mysterious Correspondence of Griffin and Sabine (1997) 22 copies, 1 review
The Blue Guitar 2 copies
Golden mean, The 2 copies
Sabine's Dagboek 1 copy
Sabine's notebook 1 copy
Associated Works
A Nest of Nightmares (Paperbacks from Hell) (1986) — Cover artist, some editions — 170 copies, 5 reviews
Aliens in Space : An Illustrated Guide to the Inhabited Galaxy (1979) — Illustrator — 107 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Bantock, Nick
- Legal name
- Bantock, Nicholas
- Other names
- Fox, Nick
- Birthdate
- 1949-07-14
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Kent Institute of Art and Design (BA ∙ fine art)
- Occupations
- artist
illustrator
author - Awards and honors
- Bill Duthie Bookseller's Choice Award (1993)
- Short biography
- Nick Bantock was born in England. He went to school in the soulless suburbs of North East London, and from there he moved on to art college in the market town of Maidstone, Kent. At the age of 23, he gave up his job in a betting shop and began working as a freelance illustrator. Over the next 16 years, he produced covers for approximately 300 books, including novels by Philip Roth and John Updike. During the winter of 1988, he moved to Vancouver with his wife and young son. Two years later, he decided to try his hand at creating pop-up books, and the legend "Griffin and Sabine" was born.
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Saltspring Island, British Columbia, Canada
London, England, UK
Maidstone, Kent, England
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Bowen Island, British Columbia, Canada
Members
Reviews
Besides the very cool cover and handy size of this hardcover book, it begins with a warning:
There are no shortcuts, be prepared to wander hither and yon and be open to being surprised.
If you can be less rigid in your destination you may find yourself lost less often.
This is not a book to enter gently, rather DIVE IN completely and deep, over your head.
Be warned also that Nick will use technical jargon on this journey including "stumblebum,"
"scrabbling," "internally jellified," "vaguely show more cohesive," "gobbledlygook" and "chemical wedding."
Be prepared for "Mind-shuffling."
Why follow a trickster? He is a master of misdirection. He assigns you impossible tasks such as finding an acceptable rhyme for orange. He gives stretching exercises as one should before any strenuous activity.
Here we are stretching our minds, beliefs, our creativity and perceived limits.
"You can not experiment and be flawless at the same time."
The exercises in this book, and your own variations on them, are infinite and will serve to energize your creativity.
Within these pages Nick refers to Masters and classically accepted Experts but always allows
(and encourages) us to add our own spin to all ideas.
Exercises range from all forms of artwork and creation to writing (haikus, limericks, jokes, songs, lies and descriptions) and origami, cut and paste, and combination, done solo, paired or in teams.
"Feed your art so it will feed you." "Set your dreams way beyond your expectations"
Even if you have read other creativity books, pick this one up and follow the exercises.
You will enjoy the journey. show less
There are no shortcuts, be prepared to wander hither and yon and be open to being surprised.
If you can be less rigid in your destination you may find yourself lost less often.
This is not a book to enter gently, rather DIVE IN completely and deep, over your head.
Be warned also that Nick will use technical jargon on this journey including "stumblebum,"
"scrabbling," "internally jellified," "vaguely show more cohesive," "gobbledlygook" and "chemical wedding."
Be prepared for "Mind-shuffling."
Why follow a trickster? He is a master of misdirection. He assigns you impossible tasks such as finding an acceptable rhyme for orange. He gives stretching exercises as one should before any strenuous activity.
Here we are stretching our minds, beliefs, our creativity and perceived limits.
"You can not experiment and be flawless at the same time."
The exercises in this book, and your own variations on them, are infinite and will serve to energize your creativity.
Within these pages Nick refers to Masters and classically accepted Experts but always allows
(and encourages) us to add our own spin to all ideas.
Exercises range from all forms of artwork and creation to writing (haikus, limericks, jokes, songs, lies and descriptions) and origami, cut and paste, and combination, done solo, paired or in teams.
"Feed your art so it will feed you." "Set your dreams way beyond your expectations"
Even if you have read other creativity books, pick this one up and follow the exercises.
You will enjoy the journey. show less
Last night I finally solved the last puzzles of Dubious Documents, and I have mixed feelings. I'm proud that I completed it, but often I felt like I solved them with sheer stubbornness rather than ingenuity. Like others said, you really can't "solve" the puzzles without the clues. And the clues aren't riddles so much as stupidly obscurant instructions. The puzzle isn't in the pictures, but in how to interpret the positively Hegelian directions. The art is of course beautiful, though I show more enjoyed it less as I was trying to solve the puzzles. Ultimately I felt most let down by the final hidden message. It just didn't seem worth the trouble. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
While this is technically Nick Bantock's seventh entry in the Griffin & Sabine series, the story told within the beautiful pages of "The Pharos Gate" is in fact a much-desired epilogue to "The Golden Mean", the third book. Here we finally see the last, most difficult steps Griffin Moss and Sabine Strohem took to reach each other at the Pharos Gate in Alexandria. Set upon by forces determined to prevent their union, these two nevertheless become one in the most metaphysical sense. While we show more knew this had come to pass from the events of the second trilogy, nothing compares to experiencing their fusion first or, more accurately, secondhand.
Once again, Bantock's physical novel itself is a work of art, in the styles of Griffin and Sabine both -- two distinct yet harmonizing modalities. The sheer tactile joy of removing printed sheets filled with Griffin's words and seeing once more Sabine's distinctive brown script is enough to pull the reader right back into their story. While I am not sure this volume would stand cleanly on its own, it makes a treasured addition to an already fascinating tale. If you are unfamiliar with Griffin & Sabine, I recommend starting and the beginning and staying the course throughout their journey. show less
Once again, Bantock's physical novel itself is a work of art, in the styles of Griffin and Sabine both -- two distinct yet harmonizing modalities. The sheer tactile joy of removing printed sheets filled with Griffin's words and seeing once more Sabine's distinctive brown script is enough to pull the reader right back into their story. While I am not sure this volume would stand cleanly on its own, it makes a treasured addition to an already fascinating tale. If you are unfamiliar with Griffin & Sabine, I recommend starting and the beginning and staying the course throughout their journey. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
A fabulist story, building slowly with each new postcard or letter, the ending pleasingly ambivalent. It's satisfying that the pace is slowed with the pauses needed to pull the occasional letter from an envelope, the attention paid to handwriting as well as imagery (stamps, pictures, cancellation marks). Still leaves an impression to interact with the book beyond the standard turning of leaves, and gently ironic given the narrative is rooted in a voyeuristic experience.
The twist is show more satisfying in that I didn't expect it, exactly, and yet it is fitting. (Julian Jaynes came to mind.) I wonder if the following two books in the initial trilogy, and/or the books of the second, spoil the effect by making too clear a statement about what is going on. show less
The twist is show more satisfying in that I didn't expect it, exactly, and yet it is fitting. (Julian Jaynes came to mind.) I wonder if the following two books in the initial trilogy, and/or the books of the second, spoil the effect by making too clear a statement about what is going on. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.Lists
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- Rating
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