Loading

The Record Reign bookset presented to Buckingham Palace

8 September 2015

Illustrated London News presents first copy of The Record Reign Book Set at Buckingham Palace.

Illustrated London News has launched its special edition book set The Record Reign, taking the first copy to Buckingham Palace. ILN’s Chief Executive Lisa Barnard handed over the first of just 1,000 commemorative double volume book sets and the souvenir bookazine The Illustrated Record Reign to Mr Christopher Sandamas, the Chief Clerk to Her Majesty. The books have been dispatched to Balmoral to be presented to Her Majesty The Queen. The second book set was taken to 10 Downing Street for The Prime Minister, who has written The Foreword. The publications are available through the website www.recordreign.com with a donation to the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust for every copy sold. Both publications include the new portrait of The Queen, commissioned by ILN for The Record Reign and unveiled last week, by artist Alastair Barford, who is a QEST scholar and Leverhulme Trust scholar.

press-4-imageaA further set of books and bookazine was presented to the Royal Warrant Holders Association (RWHA) and The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST), who collaborated on the project. Displayed on the RWHA’s walls is an original framed print of the original portrait of Queen Victoria by the Illustrated London News artist Sir Amédée Forestier and reproduced in The Record Reign book set. For the new publication Alastair Barford has created a new companion charcoal sketch of Queen Elizabeth, which Lisa Barnard presented for comparison (see picture attached).

Lisa Barnard commented: “It has been a privilege to work on these publications. 119 years after Queen Victoria reached this milestone and ILN published A Record Number for a Record Reign, we wished to create a publication of equal stature and style to pay tribute to The Queen’s reign to record the achievements and the changes which have occurred since 1952. We publish these two volumes together, reproducing the original ornate publication and creating a new Record Reign edition, following a similar but more contemporary approach. Seeing the two volumes finally in glorious print is tremendous. We have been delighted by the praise and recognition received for the portrait, which Alastair Barford very much deserves and we look forward to seeing his career flourish.”

press-4-imagebIllustrated London News has commissioned portraits of all the monarchs of the United Kingdom since Queen Victoria. When ILN’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth by Alastair Barford was unveiled last week, it was greeted with great acclaim, described by The Daily Telegraph as “a far better likeness than many more famous artists have achieved from extensive sittings with the Queen” and in The Daily Mail as “stunning”. Barford, for whom this was his first official commission, paid tribute to the organisations, which have supported him in his career as an artist.

He commented: “For the last three years I have been incredibly fortunate. The scholarships I have received from The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust and The Leverhulme Trust have enabled me to devote myself to my artistic education to the exclusion of other concerns. The great thing about this project is that for every copy of the book and magazine sold Illustrated London News will make a donation to QEST, enabling others to benefit as I have. This is important as not only does it enable the student to obtain new skills, it prevents these traditional techniques and crafts from being lost.”

press-4-imagecThe Limited Edition Book set RRP £295.00 and limited edition prints of the portrait £150.00, signed by the artist, are available at http://www.recordreign.com/ The Illustrated Record Reign bookazine, RRP £6.99 is also available on the website and on sale on newsstands including Waitrose and WHSmith.

 

Contact Lisa Barnard, Chief Executive, Illustrated London News Limited, [email protected] .
Tel: + 44 (0) 207 426 1011 + (0) 44 7887823116   www.iln.co.uk