Book design award and new gift list to mark Thames & Hudson's 75th anniversary year

An award to encourage a fresh generation of book designers, a new gift list helmed by Marc Valli and a raft of celebratory publishing including a book of David Hockney quotes are scheduled this year as part of a packed programme marking art publisher Thames & Hudson’s 75th anniversary. 

The celebrations will also include trade promotions and a window competition inviting booksellers to curate their own T&H classics.

Still wholly owned by its founding family, T&H was established by Walter and Eva Neurath in 1949 with an ambition to make art and scholarship more accessible. A books programme to celebrate that heritage kicks off in May with the launch of a new series, Pocket Perspectives, presenting accessible, small-format £12.99 hardbacks with "timeless works by writers and thinkers who have shaped the conversation across the arts, visual culture and history". Six titles will launch the series — Linda Nochlin On the Body, E H Gombrich On Fresco Painting, John Boardman On The Parthenon, Julian Bell On Painting, James Hall On the Self-Portrait and Griselda Pollock On Gauguin, with two more books to follow later in the year. A range of trade promotions to mark the anniversary year will also start around the series launch.

In July, T&H will mark its decades-long relationship with artist David Hockney with illustrated gift book The World According to David Hockney (h/b, £14.99), offering "an engaging overview of the legendary artist’s inimitable spirit through his quotations about topics ranging from art and nature to creativity and the internet". A special edition of the book will be published for museum and gallery stores in recognition of their support for T&H.

The autumn sees the launch of T&H Gift Lab, led by Valli, who was previously responsible for Laurence King’s gift list. The mission of T&H Gift Lab will be to "support learning through engaging and fun activities", including games, gift and jigsaws produced with leading T&H authors and artists. First titles will include storytelling jigsaws "The Odyssey in 1,000 pieces" and "The Story of Art in 1,000 pieces", plus card games such as "Queen of Arts: Women Artists Playing Cards", a children’s activity kit about Matisse and a line of products by children’s author Yuval Zommer.

The children’s list, which this month unveils new branding, with a revised logo from Pentagram featuring "chubbier, cheekier dolphins" than those on the adult version, will mark the anniversary year with publication of Dear Vincent by Michael Bird, illustrated by painter Ella Beech (September, h/b, £14.99), coinciding with a major Van Gogh exhibition at the National Gallery in London. The book will explore the artist’s life and work via the letters he exchanged with his brother Theo. T&H’s extensive publishing of literature about Van Gogh includes his complete letters, while the publisher also has a long-time collaborator of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Then, at the end of the year, T&H — famed for its beautifully produced titles — will publish The Art of the Book (h/b, £60), a celebration both of the history of book design and of illustrated publishing. Tracing the 75-year history of T&H and featuring its output era by era, it is described as providing "a valuable behind-the-scenes look at titles that have defined their genre". To coincide with publication, booksellers will be invited to curate their personal choice of T&H classics under the banner ‘My Thames & Hudson’ and to feature their selection in a window competition, which will be judged by design and retail professionals.

The publisher will also be launching the Thames & Hudson Award for Book Design to celebrate the importance and value of design for books and engage the next generation of book designers. Open to students of graphic design and illustration from the UK and Ireland, the award will be made up of four categories (Art, Photography, History and Children’s Books) in which entrants are to re-imagine the design of newly published Thames & Hudson books. The judging panel will include Astrid Stavro, creative director and president of the International Society of Typographic Designers Neville Brody, graphic designer and typographer Fraser Muggeridge, and the founder of Fraser Muggeridge Studio and T&H director Johanna Neurath. Winners will be announced at a ceremony to coincide with the launch of The Art of the Book.

Also promised for the autumn are a series of author events, with discussions in "select regional locations" featuring T&H authors and cultural commentators, which will be streamed live.

T&H c.e.o. and publisher Sophy Thompson said: "We are thrilled to be celebrating everything T&H has achieved over 75 years and to have the opportunity to engage with our authors, publishing partners, colleagues and booksellers. The process of looking back inspires us to look forward, and to understand how lucky we are to be making and helping to sell beautiful, important books that matter. It’s going to be an exciting year."

A full interview with Thompson will run in this week’s issue of The Bookseller.