Product Description

With more than two million copies in print, Nick Bantock's trilogy of romantic intrigue is now available as a set, beautifully packaged in an illustrated slipcase created by the author. A lovely gift for those new to the saga of the mysterious lovers, this distinctive collection also makes an enduring keepsake for devoted fans.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #105948 in Books
• Published on: 1994-11
• Format: Box set
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 3
• Binding: Hardcover

Amazon.com Review
Few books are more romantic than this trilogy, nor more surreal. Griffin Moss is a rather doleful, lonesome, gaunt, and haunted postcard designer in London. Sabine Strohem is an illustrator of stamps living on an island in the South Pacific. One day Griffin gets an extraordinary letter from Sabine revealing that she knows all kinds of things about his life and work--somehow, she can share his soul from afar. They start exchanging love letters, yet it remains an open question whether Griffin and Sabine are two hearts that mystically beat as one, or simply illusory. "You're a figment of my imagination," Griffin accuses Sabine. "You cannot turn me into a phantom because you are frightened," Sabine replies. Phantom or soul mate, Sabine is pursued across the globe by Griffin in an increasingly impassioned fashion, and the mysteries deepen.

The legendarily popular trilogy of books containing the Griffin-Sabine correspondence literally contains the correspondence: postcards, front and back, and letters in envelopes pasted into the book, which the reader must open and read--a temptation few can resist. Nick Bantock's story was way ahead of the computer game Myst, with which it shares a moody allure. Bantock designed hundreds of book covers (for Philip Roth, John Updike, and others) before he fled London for a lovely island off the west coast of Canada with his rather Sabine-like artist wife and became improbably famous by dreaming up this trilogy. His artwork is gorgeous, and countless romances have been intensified by exposure to that of Griffin and Sabine. --Tim Appelo

Customer Reviews

Not for everyone, but intriguing nonetheless
Let's get one thing out into the open right now: if you only like a plotted story with a clear beginning, a developed middle, and a firm, tidy ending, then you will probably be frustrated by "Griffin & Sabine." Those who value imaginative stories, open endings, and haunting artwork are encouraged to read further.

This lush, beautiful, eerie and somewhat baffling trilogy relates a series of letters and postcards between two artists living half a world apart. The story is told entirely through the letters themselves; however, there is a twist sure to delight the voyeur in all of us. All the correspondence is printed as if it were in its original form, so we see the postcards, and in order to read the letters, we must remove them from the envelopes pasted within the book. This gives the reader the slightly "naughty" thrill of going through another person's mail.

As for what actually happens between Griffin and Sabine or who they might really be, I will leave for the reader to ponder. Suffice it to say that Bantock's beautifully illustrated series will make a pleasantly diversion for those with an eye for the unusual.

Unique and compelling
The Griffin and Sabine trilogy in one of the most creative series of books I've read. The premise that two people encounter each other telephathically but have difficulty meeting face to face is an interesting one. It is made even more realistic and compelling by the format of the books. The story is told entirely through the correspondence between the protagonists which is displayed in real letters and postcards. It is an interesting experience to turn a page of the book, open Sabine's envelope, remove her letter to Griffin, and then read it. Finally, the most compelling aspect of the series is Bantoc's art work. His illustrations are extrordinary and very creative. The series is beautifully crafted from start to finish.

Some readers might be put off by an underlying sinister quality of the series, especially in the last book. Bantok also leaves us with many loose ends which some might find frustrating. Even if the plot or the concept of this series bothers you, it is worth checking out for the concept and creativity if nothing else. This series demonstrates that "multi-media" is not just a term that refers to computers and the Internet. Bantok's series rests on three different media: writing, physical components such as envelopes and letters, and art.

A unique multimedia novella, great of a thoughtful gift.
`Griffin & Sabine', `Sabine's Notebook', and `The Golden Mean' by illustrator, writer, and artist, Nick Bantock form a trilogy of unusual chapters in an interactive graphic novella, similar to the genre well-known to children from `pop-up' books. In fact, in Mr. Bantock's biographical sketch on the rear flyleaf, he is credited as the author of popup books.

The story, spread across the three volumes, neatly packaged in a very attractive slipcase with artwork from the cover of the first volume, is composed of a correspondence between a naturalist's artist and postage stamp illustrator, Sabine Strohem, and the owner of a one man postcard design studio, Griffin Moss.

As depicted in the flyleaf of the first volume, Ms. Strohem lives on a very small and, I believe, fictional chain of islands in the South Pacific, somewhere near the Solomon Islands. Mr. Moss lives in the middle of London. The basis of the ingeniously crafted correspondence between the two is based on the fact that both are talented and imaginative graphic artists who also happen to work in `the postal medium'. In fact, one might venture a subtitle of the series as `A Novella in Postage'.

The whole story is set off when Sabine begins, as a teenager, to have visions of illustrations in the act of their being created. Her visions see only the illustration and not the artist or even the artist's hand. After several years, she identifies the artist by spotting his work in a book of postcard illustrations. Over the course of a long correspondence on both postcards and two page letters, the two appear to fall in love. The first volume, `Griffin & Sabine' ends with the disappearance of Griffin on the event of Sabine's stating that she is coming to see him in London.

I recall seeing the single first volume in bookstores when it was first published and it is possible the author did not originally intend this to be a trilogy. While the end of the first volume is mysterious, it doesn't leave a lot of room for an obvious start of a second installment in a series. It leaves us with the possible conclusion that Sabine was totally a creation of Griffin's very depressed personality and that Griffin alone created the whole correspondence. This conclusion is supported by the last statement in the book that says that all pieces of both sides of the correspondence were found pinned to the ceiling of Griffin Moss' studio.

The second volume, `Sabine's Notebook' brings Sabine to Griffin's London apartment while Griffin has embarked upon an around the world journey which takes him to the Solomons, a short hop from Sabine's home, but circumstances keep him from visiting the small island chain itself, contributing to the idea that this location is fictional even within the context of the story. The second volume ends with the two principle characters missing one another by a hair again, as Griffin returns to London upon Sabine's returning to the islands, leaving no trace of her visit.

The third volume introduces the only other `speaking character' into the mix. This European journalist / scholar Victor Frolatti arrives on Sabine's island and begins making inquiries into the psychic ability demonstrated by Sabine. He quickly becomes an irritation and something of a distraction that also tends to upset the neat symmetry of the correspondence up to this time. The story also does not entirely resolve this character that seems to be introduced simply to create a reason for the joint disappearance of both Griffin and Sabine.

I will not relay the facts or my interpretation of the facts in this concluding volume, `The Golden Mean', as the facts are so vague that I can easily misinterpret what I am reading, and I would not want to risk spoiling your pleasure at reading it yourself.

To my mind, there are three components to this work. First, there is the story, about as long as a modest novella. I can read the whole thing in about 90 minutes. Not even as long as, for example, the famous novellas `Death in Venice' or `Heart of Darkness'. The literary quality of the writing is fair. It is certainly at a much higher level than your average comic graphic novel, but it is not quite on the same level as Thomas Mann or Joseph Conrad. If the text were to appear without the art, I doubt if the work would generate much comment in serious reviews.

Second, there is the graphic art. To a great extent, the circumstances of the principle characters are set up specifically to provide the framework for some very interesting art that walks that thin line between commercial illustration and fine art. The artwork is closest to the collage genre, transmuted onto the printed page by the influence of the pop-up book. I am less well equipped to evaluate graphic art than I am to evaluate the written word, but I believe the graphic art is superior to the writing.

Third, there is the synergy between the writing and the graphics which draws in the reader, especially with the device of the full page letters, artfully presented in envelopes within the book which one must open and read as if one were opening a genuine post. This third aspect of the book may be the best. While I am pleasantly surprised at the modest cost of each individual volume, I am almost sorry that the author and publisher could not have gone one more step and produced an edition with real stamps and real postcards in addition to the real envelopes. Using a variety of different paper textures would have enhanced the whole experience, but I am sure this would have also tripled the price of the books.

For the same price, I think three good DVDS of movies may be more value for the money, but if you really like graphic art, you don't want to miss these works.