News from Paul Taggart’s Elphen Chronicles – August 2026 Blog Post #2 of 3

Over Thirty Years in the Making #1 – Childhood Memories brought to life

The first Elphen character came to life through my watercolour paints and brushes and as I worked, the story developed along with it. Lacewing, a Swarm Leader, was soon joined by Artimus Glin, an itinerant artist; then Starfire, the Elphen Seer and on it went, until a complete story was written and visualised

through a collection of eighteen, full-plate watercolour paintings. The story ran across seventeen chapters, each featuring an ink-drawing chapter-header.

Meanwhile, Eileen had sourced a printing company to sponsor and publish the mini-magazine that she planned for the Japanese Garden at Hampton Court, 1996 – which would be handed to all the visitors, relating the background to and, narrative of, The Garden of Oxherding Pictures, as illustrated by myself.

Fate, once again, stepped up to the plate and she grabbed the opportunity to get The Elphen Chronicles into print as an A4 hardback book in 1997. What of the cover? That was when a visit to our antiquarian framers came into play - interesting how life throws opportunities into the ring. We were there to have some of my Masterworks oil paintings framed, when our quest for a traditional book-binder came up in conversation. Did we know that just such an artisanal family-business resided in the same warren of Victorian buildings? No, we did not! Such a glorious discovery; never mind the array of binding covers to choose from, there was a selection of profiles and header-bands, not to mention hand-marbling par excellence, gold-blocking, embossing etc. – we were spoilt for choice.

So what did we choose? The best, for we were determined that collectors would get what they had come to expect of us. A passion for what we create, attention to detail, a quality result, as you can read in our covering letter from 1997, which accompanied every copy of the lovingly bound, limited-edition, hardback book.

We have a small quantity of this original book, which will be available as an exclusive offer to collectors in our upcoming e-newsletter : Over Thirty Years in the Making #2 – The Next Generation.

Not content with this hardback version, we also put our heart and soul into a Collectors Unique De-Luxe Hand-Crafted Folio-Edition – featuring completely different images portrayed in a set of eighteen full-plates – presented as hand-watercoloured, linocut prints. Each lino block being cut, inked and printed by me and the hand-pulled print then numbered and signed, before being affixed within window-mounts, to be kept safely in the folio, or framed for display.

Presented in a fabric-covered, boxed-case with leather edging and gold-blocking, featuring unique drop-down sides for easier handling; the Folio itself was hand-made in padded leather with fabric lining and comprised of a double gatefold forming two compartments – the work being carried out by an artisanal bindery that specialised in customised work.

One compartment contained the text of the story, whilst the other held the eighteen, mounted prints – each set secured by a fold-in flap with ribbon ties – resembling an artist’s portfolio. Loose- leaf, individual pages of hand-made Nepalese Khadi paper with deckled edges bore the text printed on the front of each sheet, garnished with spot colour, drop-capital letters and chapter-header images.

Thank you for reading and continuing to support our work, which is much appreciated. We look forward to your company and as ever send best wishes from The Three Quills Studio - that is Paul Taggart, Sunita Gahir and Eileen Tunnell.

Paul Taggart

Artist, Author, Presenter, Producer

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NOTE : This blog post contains information pertaining to Paul W. Taggart, Sunita J. Gahir and Eileen M. Tunnell and may contain copyrighted material. It should be read as privileged or confidential and protected by International Copyright law.