Sort of Books has acquired rights to publish new hardback editions of Tove Jansson’s eight original Moomin novels from Moomin Characters Ltd. Sort Of will be launching these as Special Collectors’ Editions – the first four titles in October 2017 to coincide with the opening of the Tove Jansson retrospective at Dulwich Picture Gallery. Four further titles will follow in Spring and Winter 2018.
The titles will be lovingly restored to their original 1950s and ’60s designs, with stunning full-colour wrap-around art paper jackets, and Finn Family Moomintroll – the most popular Moomin title – will include the book’s original fold-out map of Moominvalley.
“Our aim is to recreate the books that the first Moomin readers treasured,” says Sort Of publisher Nat Jansz. “There’s a touch of Moomin mania at the moment, with the sell-out Adventures in Moominland show at the Southbank, a new animation series in development, and beautiful Moomin merchandise wherever you look. But these eight Moomin novels are at the heart of everything. They are philosophically wise, packed with adventure and have enduring values of non-materialism, love of nature and the imperative of hospitality.” The books have notable fans, including Philip Pullman, Ali Smith, Philip Ardagh and Frank Cottrell Boyce. Pullman says, ‘Jansson’s inventiveness seems effortless’, her line drawings are ‘perfection’, and ‘she should have won the Nobel Prize for Literature’.
Sort of Books is already the publisher of Tove Jansson’s books for grown-ups, including the bestselling The Summer Book (which has sold 150,000 copies since their reissue). For the Moomin hardbacks, they have created covers featuring Tove Jansson’s original art, working with the award-winning designer Peter Dyer (The Essex Serpent).
The first four titles will be Finn Family Moomintroll, Comet in Moominland, Exploits of Moominpappa and Moominland Midwinter. Publication date is 5th October 2017.
Source: Sort of Books