Het Geheim van Marten Toonder - Luxe cassette + Boek + drukplaat + DVD - 1 Album - Limited edition

A beautiful art book about the work of Marten Toonder. A co-production between the publishers De Bezige Bij and Joh. Enschede Amsterdam. I had the opportunity to contribute by assisting with picture research and writing captions.

A “prestige edition”: the book comes in an attractive blue slipcase, along with a DVD featuring a documentary about Toonder and his work, and a unique printing plate: a metal plate of a Bommel comic strip, once used to print the drawings in the newspaper. A certificate featuring an impression made from the plate completes the set.

Published in a large format of 25 x 36 cm, the book runs to 416 pages and is packed with beautiful images. The emphasis is on original work: original drawings by Toonder from the Toonder Archive at the Literary Museum, as well as from the collections of other institutions and collectors. This includes a great deal of material that has never been published before, or has never before appeared in such a large format and at such high print quality.

The book covers the entire body of work of Marten Toonder, exploring its development, the influence of other artists on it, and its diversity. A substantial section is devoted to Toonder’s most important work: the Bommel comic strip. It features many original drawings and strips.