The William Morris Gallery is offering visitors and opportunity to see how Coralie Bickford-Smith’s best selling book The Fox and Star was created in a new exhibition running until the 29th January 2017. 

Featuring original illustrations, proofs and sketches on display for the first time, the exhibition is an opportunity to see how exactly the book was conceived and produced into a best-selling book.

The display will also explore the relationship between the book and William Morris’s renowned Kelmscott Press, a key influence for Bickford-Smith.

The Fox and the Star originally rose to prominence when it was named Waterstone’s Book of the Year last year and considered to be one of the most intricately illustrated children’s books to be published.

A tale of loss, and friendship, The Fox and the Star looks back to the visual language of William Morris and William Blake.

Charting the development of the book from Bickford-Smith’s initial designs, starting with the early pencil storyboards and finishing  with the final selection of cover choices in finished book jackets. Highlights will include excerpts from Bickford-Smith’s sketchbooks in which she drew the central character Fox time and time again to create a sensitive and  figure.

Talking about the  illustrations Coralie Bickford-Smith said: ” Morris’s design work on the Kelmscott Press has been an inspiration throughout my career designing book covers for Penguin, and took on a renewed relevance when embarking upon the illustration of my own debut story. His attention to detail and gift for pattern is celebrated in the permanent collections of the William Morris Gallery, who work to inspire and inform people of his legacy.”

Coralie Bickford-Smith: The Fox and the Star will be on display at the William Morris Gallery until the 29th January 2017.  For more information visit: http://www.wmgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions-43/coralie-bickford-smith.