The Living Forest by Rien Poortvliet
Contributed by Briar Levit on Dec 5th, 2021. Artwork published in
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Jacket (front)
This book jacket for The Living Forest features a script that pairs beautifully with the soft and yet also precise water colors of Rien Poortvliet that tell the story of the animals of a forest somewhere in the Netherlands. It probably betrays the fact that it was created in the late 1970s, or perhaps it is just thin enough not to pin it down.
Side note: Rien Poortvliet is best known for his illustrations for Gnomes, which features all hand lettering.
You can flip through the whole book on the Internet Archive!
Introduction. The text is set ragged right, in Bauer Bodoni.
The Fox
The Wild Boar
Detail from the inner flap. The text in Bauer Bodoni is introduced by a drop cap from Vivaldi.
5 Comments on “The Living Forest by Rien Poortvliet”
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Despite his inimitable style, I did not recognize this cover as a Rien Poortvliet cover rightaway. The original Dutch language edition from 1973 was named De vossen hebben holen (translated: “Foxes have dens”) and like most Poortvliet book covers, it featured chunky type for the title – not an attempt to match his lettering and writing. This is the first time that I see headlines in a Poortvliet book that are type, not lettering – and admittedly the first time I realise that his books were published in more languages than Dutch!
Oh wow! I did not know what the Dutch version looked like, myself. I grew up with this book in The States and adored it. Now I’m sharing it with my step-daughter.
I actually prefer this cover image, but I have to say I really like the Vivaldi script. Such a different choice though!
I should add that it was Gnomes that was huge here. I think this did okay as a result.
Hello Briar, how nice to read this! For me too, Poortvliet’s books are inseparable from my childhood and now I read the Gnomes to my youngest son. And until he reads them himself, I’ll take the liberty of updating the author’s hopelessly conservative views on male-female roles :-)
Man, when I need to do a new design, I just walk for this robotic page. Good Style.
Whises.