ANTIPHON EDITIONS


Books and block prints for the long defeat.

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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, original linocut prints and can patronise an annual fine book or print project.

SELECTED WORK


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 2024A 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
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 2024A 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 2023A 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.