The Owl Service by Alan Garner (Folio Society)
Originally published by Collins in 1967, The Owl Service is a low fantasy novel for young adults. It won author Alan Garner (b. 1934) the annual Carnegie Medal and was made into a TV series in 1969.
The shown hardback edition from the Folio Society was published in 2013, with a preface by Susan Cooper. The illustrations are by Darren Hopes, with endpapers and title-page decoration by Garner’s wife, Griselda Greaves. It’s housed in a custom-made slipcase with green buckram ends and pale-green Clairefontaine Ingres papered sides.
The display typeface used on the spine and the title page is Ambicase Modern. In the first release by Teeline Fonts from 2011, type designer Craig Eliason explored the combination of upper- and lowercase forms – not side by side, but within the same letters. While the individual components look familiar, the combination exudes a strange and mysterious aura, not unlike the cover illustration of the girl with the owl face composed of plant parts.
