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Conran Octopus and Vogue bear witness to century of royal history
Conran Octopus has secured The Crown in Vogue by Robin Muir and Josephine Ross with a foreword by Edward Enninful, British Vogue’s editor-in-chief.
Publisher Alison Starling acquired world rights in all languages from Condé Nast’s agent Julian Alexander at The Soho Agency. The Crown in Vogue will be published in October 2022.
The publisher said: “Vogue’s first star photographer, Cecil Beaton, was entranced by the House of Windsor and the admiration was mutual. A younger star photographer, Antony Armstrong Jones, left Vogue to marry the Queen’s sister and returned as Lord Snowdon. The Queen’s cousin, Lord Lichfield, proved an insightful photographer of royal style along with many of Vogue’s fashion photographers including Horst P Horst, Norman Parkinson and David Bailey. With visual treasures from Vogue’s unrivalled archive and contributions through the decades from the most perceptive of royal commentators – from Evelyn Waugh to Zadie Smith – The Crown in Vogue is the definitive, authoritative portrait of royalty in the modern age.”
Enninful’s foreword reads: “Vogue, like the royal family, has been through many evolutions of its own, and to view Her Majesty’s life through the record of our pages is truly a document of history.”
Both authors are regarded as experts in their field, having spent time either working with Vogue or examining the history of the royal family. Muir is a photographic historian and writer on photography having curated major exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven. He is currently a contributing editor with Vogue having formerly held the position of pictures editor at the magazine.
Ross is a literary and royal historian, the acknowledged expert on Cecil Beaton’s career with Vogue and an “authority” on the life and works of Jane Austen. Her books include Jane Austen and Her World (National Portrait Gallery Publications), Men Who Would Be King (Orion) and Beaton in Vogue (Thames & Hudson).
Starling commented: “Conran Octopus has been working with British Vogue since 2014 and together we’ve created and sold more than 300,000 books across all markets, but this project has been one of the most exciting yet – with its exploration of the close relationship of two great British institutions: The Royal Family and Vogue. Vogue’s archive of magnificent images combined with the expert commentary of Vogue’s contributing editor Robin Muir and royal historian, Josephine Ross, has resulted in a book that is both a visual treat and a wonderfully engaging read.”
