Tudor Books for Selly Manor (and the rest is history)...
Selly Manor Museum is a 15th century building that was established as a museum in 1910 by the chocolate maker George Cadbury.
The museum showcases Tudor heritage and lifestyle in amongst a traditional house with a fascinating history.
We were tasked with trying to get into visitors’ good books by creating a series of informative, authentic Tudor-style books for Selly Manor museum, with bookstands to match.
Each room in the museum will have individual room books, which can be picked up and taken around the space, enlightening visitors all about the room in which they are standing. They will give an exciting and engaging insight into what life was like in Tudor times.
We wanted these books to be very hardwearing, highly authentic and truly memorable. Our aim was for the visitor experience to be positively enhanced by the distinctive books.
In order to fit in with the Tudor building, we knew we had to conjure something unique and authentic up. The books also had to be very durable and resilient, since they were going to be picked up and handled a lot over the years.
We sourced solid light oak for the outer cover with an authentic black leather spine with 4 brass screw fixings. In terms of the brochure design, we used a Tudor-style header font throughout and etched the text into the covers for extra texture.
The inner pages had deckled edges applied to reflect a distressed 500-year-old book, yet still keeping its durability and strength with a protective matt lamination. We included bespoke illustrations throughout and kept the design engaging in order to keep them easy and stimulating to read.
“We welcome thousands of visitors each year, and we want each and every person to have a wonderful time and really get the most out of their visit. On a practical level, the books must be durable and be able to withstand a lot of use over a long period of time. The room books created by Mooch definitely fit that very challenging brief. They look fantastic and we’re sure that our visitors will enjoy them for many years to come.”
Nicki Lupton – Learning & Interpretation Officer, Selly Manor Museum