ANTIPHON EDITIONS


Books and block prints for the long defeat.

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antiphoneditions@gmail.com

FINDS TABLE


Cutting from an antiphonal containing a chant for Easter morning. The miniature is painted by Bartolomeo Rigossi da Gallarate, one of the most talented Lombard illuminators of the late 1400s.
Gold tremissis coin of Constans II, emperor of Byzantium A.D. 641-668
Terracotta head, South Italy, 3rd Century B.C.

Carved ivory c. 1200 depicting the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket
Attic black-figure eye cup, featuring images of Herakles and Athena, c. 500 B.C.



Antiphon Editions is the creative practice of Luke Sewell, a printmaker and book designer from Birmingham.

Antiphon uses original photography, printmaking, writing and material in the public domain to explore themes connected to the long defeat, the fire that obliterates night and the work of human hands through history.

We welcome proposals for new projects, creative direction and potential collaboration.

The best way to support the work of Antiphon is via Patreon. Patrons receive online updates, quarterly mail, every Antiphon book release and can choose to patronise an annual fine book or print project.

Education


Archaeology and Ancient History BA Hons,
University of Birmingham 2014

Museum Practice, MA
Birmingham City University, 2018

Public Projects

International Medieval Congress, Leeds
July 2026

Dublin Small Press Fair,
November 2025

Bound Art Book Fair, Manchester
October 2025

Birmingham Open Studios,
September 2024

Ikon Gallery Print Fair, Birmingham
April 2024

The Green Chapel,
Lent 2024

First Folio in Erdington,
August 2023

Selected Writing

In The Belly Of The Fish

The Long Defeat

Tolkien, Talking Trees and the Harrowing of Hell

St. Peter’s Seminary and the Lost Future

Last Updated 09.04.2026

SELECTED WORK


I Joined A Cult, by Ian Johnson
Winter 2026 A short A6  pamphlet containing an original poem, bound by hand along the spine with cotton thread in the style of staples.

The cover is 125gsm dark grey colorplan from G.F. Smith papers. The title and Antiphon ligature are attached as white onlays.

Fors Clavigera, Letter VII: Charitas, by John Ruskin
Autumn 2025
A 24-page hand-bound book featuring John Ruskin’s seventh letter to the workmen and labourers of Great Britain.

The book block is printed on 120gsm cream paper from Munken Paper. The cover is 236gsm Vanguard Vermillion, a nod to the colour Ruskin references throughout the letter.

This book was part of the Antiphon Patreon pack for Autumn 2025.



Ikanho
Summer 2024 A 40-page photobook featuring medium format photography on Ilford HP5 film of a pilgrimage along the River Alde to St. Botolph’s Church in Iken, Suffolk.

The images are accompanied by text about the pilgrimage and Botolph’s life. Each book is accompanied by an illuminated A6 insert.

The book block is printed using a risograph printer in black and bright green on 120gsm cream paper from Munken Paper. The cover is risographed in white ink on dark blue stock.

Hand bound pamphlet-style with bright green thread through three holes across the spine.This book was part of the Antiphon Patreon pack for Summer 2024.



Grail
Autumn 2025An 8-page concertina book featuring a series of linocut prints of bell beaker vessels from the Bronze Age.

The book is a playful reflection on the grail legend. If we have surviving drinking vessels from this country that are 2,500 years old, why not one that is just 2,000 years old?

The range of vessels invites us, like a famous fictional archaeologist, to choose the right one.

Each book in the first edition of eight was printed and bound by hand, with a handwritten belly band showing the edition number. The covers are wrapped in chartreuse stock from G.F. Smith Papers.




The Plough
Summer 2023Linocut print commissioned by Plough Publishing House for use at one of their writers’ retreats.

Stylistically and spiritually the print draws heavily from the writings of Wendell Berry and R.S. Thomas as well as the work and being of artist and farmer Jack Baumgartner, and his School of the Transfer of Energy.



Tituli Hunteriani
Spring 2025A 36-page photobook depicting Thomas Amman’s photographs of the Roman inscription stones from the Antonine Wall, now held in the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow.

Staple bound and printed on uncoated recycled paper using a BDS-compliant Canon iX printer.

This book was part of the Antiphon Patreon pack for Spring 2025.


Laura Tschaplinski Is Haunted, by Laura Tschaplinski
Autumn 2024A 36-page hand-bound book featuring an  original essay by Laura Tschaplinski on place, memory, genius loci and the nature of a haunting. Illustrated with images by the author and from the Getty Open Content Program.

The book block is printed on 120gsm cream paper from Munken Paper. The cover is harvest colorplan from G.F. Smith and the book is bound pamphlet-style with brown thread through three holes across the spine.

This book was part of the Antiphon Patreon pack for Autumn 2024.



The University at St. Gallen
Spring 2024 A 40-page book presenting archive photography of the 1963 buildings at the school of Economics and Social Sciences at St. Gallen, Switzerland.

The book block is printed on 120gsm cream paper from Munken Paper. The front cover is risographed in white ink on black stock. The book is staple bound with three black staples through the spine.

This book was part of the Antiphon Patreon pack for Spring 2024.



Think of Others
Winter 2023 A 20-page, slightly-smaller-than-A6 pamphlet setting Mahmoud Darwish’s poem in its original Arabic with an English translation alongside new illustrations.

Bound by hand with linen thread.


An A-Z of Middle-earth
2021

STORE Designed and carved in the immediate aftermath of my Father’s death, these individual linocuts combine to form an alphabet that spans the considerable length and breadth of J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium.

The designs are available as an A2 giclee print, accompanied by a sheet revealing what, where or who each letter stands for.
Down In The Greenwood Valley
Summer 2025 36-page single section photobook featuring medium format photography on Kodak Tri-X 400 film of scenes from Ardudwy, a region of northern Wales.

The images are accompanied by text exploring the myths and legends found in the Mabignogion, a collection of the earliest Welsh prose stories, and the various ways they remain tangibly linked to the landscape.

Down In The Greenwood Valley is dedicated to Huw Evans, a friend whose poetry first led me to Ardudwy.The book block is printed on 120gsm cream paper from Munken Paper. The cover is emerald colourplan from G.F. Smith papers, with the title risographed in gold with a dark drop shadow.

Hand bound with rose thread through four holes in the centre of the spine, this book was part of the Antiphon Patreon pack for Summer 2025.
The Death of St. Edmund
Autumn 2024 A 20-page hand bound pamphlet featuring a poem about the martyrdom of St. Edmund, illustrated with linocut block prints.
The book block is printed on cotton rag paper, with a cover risographed in gold on black stock.

This book was part of the Antiphon Patreon pack for Winter 2025.
Homily
Advent 2023 Folding chapbook featuring an Advent message given at St. Barnabas Church during the first week of Advent in 2023.

Also includes readings and a short appendix exploring the Anglo-Saxon Advent poem Crist, which is often attributed to Cynewulf.

Folded up, Homily reads as a simple eight-page A6 pamphlet and unfurled it reveals an A3 poster page illustrated with August Strindberg’s remarkable celestographs.

This book was part of the Antiphon Patreon pack for Winter 2024.

© ANTIPHON EDITIONS 2026