Concept and Art

The Peacock Edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray plays on a quintessential metaphor for Mr. Gray, the flashiest peacock of them all. It is limited to 26o numbered and signed copies and it contains numerous unique features, some of them truly one of a kind.

The creative concept for this edition is based in both Dorian’s degradation and his objectification by his friend and painter, Basil. That is why each and every book features a hand painted peacock feather by the young and talented artist Nina Bekeniova. This makes each book even more unique, as each feather will be slightly different and special.

Once you open the book, you are met with handmade marbled endpapers made by the legendary Freya Scott, who has crafted these specially for this edition. The goal was to create something extravagant and worthy of Dorian’s name and her creation bridges the covers and the art inside perfectly.

As you go through the story, you will encounter numerous things that emphasise Dorian’s fall from grace: illustrated drop caps are rotting away with each chapter and each illustration represents a moment of Dorian’s degradation; a moment where his decisions ate away at his soul. And when you need a break from reading, you can mark where you left off with a bookmark in the shape of Dorian’s silver mirror. All the illustrations inside the book and the bookmark were done by the extremely talented Vedran Klemens

Since Dorian is quite fond of attention, it made no sense to make any kind of case that will hide his beauty. Therefore, this edition comes in a custom designed case which features a “window” where the book spine is, so you can always see it when it’s sitting on your shelf, while it remains safe from dust and other elements.

As previously mentioned, the whole run has 260 numbered copies, with a few additional copies marked with roman numerals for the key participants of the projects.

You can see more pictures of the book and the illustrations in our gallery.
Photography: Dino Šertović.

Production and Materials

For this edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray we looked for something that will make Mr. Gray truly stand out.

The case is made from plexiglass, then draped in high quality green foil with a sparkling effect. The two sides of the case are held by magnets whose strength was calibrated perfectly so it will both safely keep it closed, but also make it simple to open.

The book is bound in the fine, sparkling, green cloth, then stamped with gold foil and embossing for decorative elements. The cover illustration is hand painted for each book with acrylic paint on canvas.

Marbled endpapers were handmade using numerous colours, some of them metallic, to achieve high shine and multitude of colours. The book was printed offset on Fedrigoni Savile Row 100g paper, giving it a rich and textured feel. Finally, it was smyth sewn with a green thread, then glued afterwards to provide for maximum durability. As always, to ensure the best reading experience, we used the beautiful and versatile Brioni typeface.

The bookmark was produced on a special paper with a silver shine, mixed occasionally with gold, depending on the angle of the light. A mirror foil was added in the middle to produce the effect of an actual mirror.

All of these details make this a truly wondrous edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Shipping

Since we put a lot of effort into creation of our books, we like to see them delivered safe and sound (and fast!) straight into your hands. That is why we ship with DHL Express, which means the books will be trackable at all times and they’ll arrive straight into your hands (unless you state otherwise). This also means they should arrive within 7-10 business days at the latest, but they’ll usually arrive within five business days, depending at what time of the day you made your order.

Please be aware that although books are not subject to customs fees in many countries, they might be in yours. This may mean they’ll be held at customs for inspection, delaying the delivery time, and you may be charged a customs fee or import tax or similar. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about customs clearance – customs rules of each country make the importer (the buyer—you!) responsible for these fees. Some of our customers have managed to reduce these fees by opting to do the import documentation themselves at the customs office instead of letting the courier (DHL) do it for them.