This week we welcome legendary fantasy illustrator John Howe to the UK as The Folio Society unveil a breathtaking limited edition of ‘Mythago Wood', Robert Holdstock’s seminal work of British fantasy. This marks the first-ever fully illustrated version of the novel.

Limited to just 500 copies, this stunning book features almost forty of John’s exquisite illustrations alongside five full-page colour plates. Set in a beautiful leather binding with an illustrated slipcase design. If that weren’t enough, this special collectors edition also features gilded page edges and ribbon, and each copy is signed and numbered by John Howe himself.

First published in 1984 and winning the World Fantasy Award, this seminal work is set in Herefordshire, deep in the heart of England where lies Ryhope Wood, an ancient, untamed forest where myth and reality blur. When Stephen Huxley returns home after the Second World War, he discovers his father’s obsessive research into the wood’s secrets and the Mythagos that dwell there – mystical manifestations of ancient myths brought to life. As Stephen ventures deeper into the wood, becoming entangled in a world of legendary beings and a haunting love story, he risks losing himself to the wood itself. Richly imaginative and steeped in ancient folklore and Celtic mythology, Mythago Wood is a spellbinding exploration of memory, myth and the power of the subconscious.

Predominantly working in traditional materials, John’s unimaginably intricate artwork almost grows from the page like an organic being. With a huge talent for visualising mythical beings and imagining fantasy worlds his work has become instantly recognisable across the globe. When not at his drawing board or riffling through his extensive collection of myth, folklore and fantasy books he can often be found exploring the mountains and forests where he lives.

We were delighted to accompany John to an intimate gathering to celebrate this monumental publication, with huge thanks to The Folio Society, Sarah Biggs and Alison Eldred.

Mythago Wood is on sale from Thursday 20th May and features on the Folio Society website

You can view his newly updated portfolio featuring some of the beautiful illustrations here. Here is John Howe's foreward in full which he wrote for this edition.

LOST IN THE WOODS

 

I confess. I bought the book for its cover.

 

The attenuating circumstances: winter 1989, Zermatt, Switzerland, hunting for some light evening reading. In the lone after-hours drugstore with a paperback carousel, a strangely alluring cover stood out amongst the airport novels and romance writers. It featured a stream in a deep woodland, an oddly anthropomorphic owl, a purposefully striding Celtic warrior. Title: Mythago Wood. Author: Robert Holdstock. Neither was familiar. I bought it.

 

That evening, I took my first steps into Ryhope Wood.

 

Fast-forward a decade or so: a London suburb, late evening, driving in company of my agent, after a day of meetings. The car slowed.

“That’s Rob and Sarah’s,” she remarked, “Fancy going to say hello?”

“We can’t possibly,” I remonstrated, “it’s nearly ten p.m.”

“They won’t mind at all,“ she declared, looking for a spot to park.

 

Meeting the Holdstocks was the second enchantment of Mythago Wood. We spent a warm, delightful (and very long) evening in the company of that gracious and welcoming couple. Meeting someone whose work you admire is potentially a daunting experience. (In the intervening years, I had read most of Rob’s other books, and illustrated covers for Mythago Wood and Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn, so my admiration for his work had steadily grown.)

I can recall nothing of the topics and themes we must have so eagerly discussed, but was left with the impression of windows opened on impossible and deeply inspiring worlds. I was subjugated by the energy and scope and depth of Rob’s visions. I was, in a word, lost in the woods.

 

Since then, I have been happily a-wander in Ryhope Wood. It is, simultaneously, a symbol and a metaphor, a signpost, a talisman and a lucky charm. Into the Wood is where I go to approach the ever-elusive sources of the imagination, to learn to allow words and images appear of their own volition, to snatch them from the corner of the eye, to accept them as gifts and to pass them along.

 

Ryhope is the archetypal forest, the ur-wood, the land of be-wildering and enchantment. It is the perilous realm, the ever-changing borderland, the liminal marches, where the dream and the real are woven, thread by thread, into the bright and fabulous tapestry of Story. Somewhere deep in the wood is where the chance encounter of personal experience and collective consciousness can occur. There are no straight roads, only hollow ways, detours and hidden tracks, where one must follow instinct, with a certain determination to stay lost.

 

Fantasy artists are the hunters that stalk this wildwood, loosing their shafts at shadows; too much practice sends arrows astray, to strike stereotype and not archetype. Only letting go, reveling in being lost, and trusting in the instinct’s peripheral vision can bring home the elusive images one seeks. These are the lessons I have learned, purposefully and eagerly wandering in a Mythago Wood of my own patient making.

 

Tragically, Rob is no longer with us, but I still have that old paperback, and I am still happily lost in the woods.

 

John Howe

Neuchâtel, June 3, 2024

You can find out more about John’s work over on his website and Instagram page. 

John Howe is perhaps best known for his iconic film concept work on Peter Jackson's ‘The Lord of the Rings', 'The Hobbit' and Amazon's ‘The Rings of Power' series - his unique style is recognized the world over. He has also worked as a concept artist on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Mortal Engines. He has held solo exhibitions in the US, Europe, China and Japan.

For more information regarding collaborations please email info@arenaillustration.com