In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Continues

This is the 2nd book in the first trilogy of the Griffin and Sabine series. Sabine is on her way to visit Griffin and in a panic, he leaves, telling her to stay in his place. Their correspondence continues, with Griffin traveling around the world, discovering more about each other through there letters. When he returns, he finds her not there and yet by her letters she was. Is she imagined or are things more complicated than they appear? The artwork continues to striking and I found myself zipping from letter to letter to find out what was going to happen, only to be left in mystery again. Their relationship deepens further in this book. The third book beckons and I look forward to perhaps some explanation or conclusion, but perhaps we will be left in the shroud of mystery, which might not be such a bad thing after all.

This book is a wholly original piece of imagination that engages you on a variety of different planes. Each page is a postcard or letter between a woman on a tiny south Pacific island who designs stamps (not much mail where she is but the stamps are popular with collectors) and a man in London who designs postcards whom she has never met but whose paintings she can "watch" from 13,000 miles away as they take shape. But it is not words you read, it's pictures of words because each page is a brilliant piece of art representing a postcard, front and back. And sometimes an envelope into which your fingers, tingling with anticipation, reach to pull out a letter or a typed and folded page, thereby engaging you in the story and the art. And because each of the two characters is a gifted artist, the postcard images are splendid, ranging from whimsical to brooding. What is the story, which ends in a mystery, all about? I don't know, but then, you don't have to explain art, which may be the point the author/painter is making. The story is short (you will read it in half an hour or less), and hardly a literary heavyweight. But if you're like me, you'll want to take this book off the shelf and enjoy its pages and letters over and over. In the end it just might give you years of pleasure.

Lovers love, and whatever distance or mystery is tossed between them, they still will love. In "Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence" by Nick Bantock, we begin an intimate journey between two lovers destined to be enraptured in all that is dreamt of. They catapult the divide of geography and join mid-mail in a postal embrace, captured by Bantock in a sweet and phenomenal book.

Griffin is a postcard artist in England and Sabine is a stamp designer for a small Pacific island. Each is perceived as sublimely exotic to the other as they reveal the secrets of their lives through correspondence.

What is the romance of "Griffin & Sabine?" Besides being an 'extraordinary correspondence,' it is about two lovers who connect through the artistic passions they share. Like the romances that now happen through the internet, or the Victorian era correspondences, there is an innocence and delicacy to their exchanges of mail.

This is the romance which never happened in "84 Charing Cross Road." This is what the romance should've been in "You've Got Mail." This is what "Cyrano De Bergerac" could've been if not a tragedy.

Bantock dangles a sensuous, sumptuous step into the hearts of a fantasy based in a reality that the reader will smile, wondering if the writer knew someone like Sabine, if she has been created like Pygmalion sculpted Galatea.

Begin with "Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence" and follow their story through subsequent tales in other book.

--Brockeim

`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.

SABINE'S NOTEBOOK is the second volume of Nick Bantock's trilogy that begins with GRIFFIN AND SABINE and ends with THE GOLDEN MEAN. It continues the correspondence between London artist Griffin Moss and South Seas incubus Sabine Strohem. It's a visually tantalizing book, containing actual envelopes glued to the pages with actual letters inside that can be taken out and read.
By the beginning of SABINE'S NOTEBOOK it has become clear that Sabine is merely a creation of Griffin's imagination. Griffin has received Sabine's notice that she is coming to London (on a card with no stamps...) but afraid of meeting his own hallucination he flees to Ireland, beginning a trip that will take him around the world. The notebook of the title is Sabine's record of Griffin's correspondence as she waits in his house in London awaiting his return. The connection of the story to W.B. Yeat's poem "The Second Coming" becomes much more tangible and a direct quote from the poem brings this volume of the trilogy to a finish.
Like the first book, SABINE'S NOTEBOOK is second-rate literature. Nonetheless, it is still an interesting novelty that is worth reading even though it's really Bantock's amazing images that matter. Considering that one can read the entire trilogy in about half an hour, these books aren't an undue demand on one's time. I tend to believe a young-adult audience would appreciate this books best, as I read the trilogy when I was a teenager and found them much more captivating then I did on a recent rereading.

The other reviewers have done a fine job discussing the content so I won't regurgitate that. But, this interesting book and its subsequent volumes are the bread and butter of any voyeur who likes to watch and think about the actions that are unfolding while staying a safe distance away. The details of the story are fleshed out nicely in little bits and pieces that you ascertain while reading the letters and postcards and as one reads it you discover just how sophisticated the characters truly are.

Being a scholar of film, I admit that the voyeur comes with the territory but these books take that to an entirely new level and as an owner of the entire series, whenever I find myself feeling worn out by the insipid storytelling that seems so typical of current literature (both written and televisual), I turn to these texts and feel mentally, and even somewhat spiritually refreshed.

GRIFFIN & SABINE is the ultimate gift for the naturally curious. This peek into the correspondence between two people - with letters to open, postcards to read, handwriting to decipher - gives the reader the sensation of having stumbled upon a romantic mystery to which only the individual reader is privvy. The story is nothing much, but the discovery of it is exquisite. The art used to development the concept is engaging and not at all cutesy. Because of its interactive nature, this book feels intimately known, privately owned, a secret kept closed between the covers.
This is a great gift book. If you are looking for substantial reading, skip this, but if you want a diversion, something to explore and take in visually, this book is for you.

This is the second epistolary novel I read this week. This one is far more aesthetically pleasing--both of the writers are artists, and the letters have tiny envelopes glued to the pages. It makes you want to read this book very carefully, to treat it reverently. I found this book very emotionally satisfying, although I want to read it through a second time and decide how appropriate each of various endings are. It's Magical Realism with a British bent, and although it's not a terribly long read it can still be involving. Take your time--savor it.

The true attraction of this book is that it is correspondence - letters to and from people who are at first wrapped in mystery, and whose characters develop over the length of the book. And don't we all love to read letters! Especially other people's - there is something mysterious and forbidden about it. The letters are beautifully written, and really engross you with their richness and detail.
And it is a beautiful looking book too. The illustrations are wonderful - it is almost like a grown up child's book. Ultimately, it is appealing in all ways. I can recommend it to any worthy book collector!

Wow! This is the first in Nick Bantock's amazing series. I absolutely MUST read them all in sequence now! The book was short, clearly the beginning of a larger work, but so psychically satisfying. The characters wrote letters to each other that the reader could actually take out of envelopes attached to the pages and read! I felt like I was holding artifacts of these people's lives! So exciting!

For more reviews, please visit my blog, CozyLittleBookJournal.

I just purchased this book. It is beautifully written and illustrated. It was fun seeing what I would be reading next whether it be a post card or a letter stuck in an envelope. Even though it does not take long to read, you could spend even longer examining the pictures. It was so intriging reading these letters that I almost felt like a voyer reading them, like it was none of my business. I am glad that after this book being published over 10 years I finally got my hands on it. I am readily waiting to get the next in the series!

I was given this as a gift from my "extraordinary correspondent" 3000 miles away and it made me appreciate the joys of becoming entranced in the possiblity of love and the tingle of fear that comes when that love is real. Nick Bantock takes us on a journey, through love letters. Letters that the reader can actually remove from their envelope, open and read! For those of you who thought you were too old for "pop-up like books" you're in for a treat! The beautiful artwork only adds to the story. I can't wait to read book #2!

This series undoubtedly, incredible. Nick Bantock not only engulfs you in a very surreal landscape ala his art, but the story will take you into a place you would not expect to go. Even if the story is a bit too incredulous for some, the art work is worth the cost of the book alone. Yes the idea of peaking into someone elses mail made the story all the more fun, still the eye candy is in the story and the illustrations. Its worth the read...

I have read Nick Bantock's trilogy over and over. The story that is revealed in these letters and postcards is incredible. And the drawings and real letters in real envelopes makes the experience of reading the correspondance like digging through someone's long lost treasures. I highly recomend that you read the entire series. If you just by the one, you'll be going crazy until you can read the outcome.

The beautiful story and the intriguing correspondence of Griffin and Sabine's... accounts of their lives earmarks the beginning of an extraordinary relationship. A perfect gift, or even better buy the set of three books, and a great gift for someone enjoys finely-crafted arts. Appropriate for all ages, but perhaps better for high-school age or older. Sure to be a classic for generations to come.

Griffin & Sabine is an engaging little art concept book. Nick Bantock presents an eclectic set of drawings, humorously juxtaposed as a correspondence between a post-card maker (Griffin) and his psychic amanuensis (Sabine). The story - told in the form of facimile letters - is forgetable. But the pictures and accompanying detail work are well worth the price of the book.

I am an illustrator by trade and a reader by passion, and it's clear to me that the author is a superb illustrator and a story teller of unique imagination. He takes you by the hand into the mind of Griffin, looking through Sabine's eyes and around half the world by mail! It is absolutely genial the way he plays with our senses, hopes and fears.

Nick Bantock, artistically positioning his pensive pen, leads us on to infiniti in Griifin & Sabine, Where we thought we knew the heart, he provides heartbreak. Where we assuredly trusted our instincts, he turns them into sphincters. Where we needed a hug, he offers a glimpse of lover's paranoia.
We've all been fooled before by love, but here Bantock makes us enjoy the surprise. With all the shock of a Dear John missive, Bantock leaves us shouting, "No ... no ... no ...!"
Larry Rochelle, author of BOURBON & BLISS, DEATH & DEVOTION, DANCE WITH THE PONY and TRACETRACKS.

I just can't say enough about this book! It was given to me by a friend, as a gift, and I just fell in love with the book and the story. The letters that you can remove from a "real" envelope are a wonderful touch, and the artwork adds an entirely new dimension to the experience! If you are at all romantic, or slightly nosy, or would love to be "in" on two people's story as they fall in love, then buy this book!

An epistolary novel in which Griffin Moss, a postcard artist in London, and Sabine Strohem, a postage stamp illustrator in the South Seas, fall in love via the mail, never having seen or spoken to each other. The book is illustrated in varying styles, from detailed line drawings to collages.

I am an illustrator by trade and a reader by passion, and it's clear to me that the author is a superb illustrator and a story teller of unique imagination. He takes you by the hand into the mind of Griffin, looking through Sabine's eyes and around half the world by mail! It is absolutely genial the way he plays with our senses, hopes and fears.

Nick Bantock, artistically positioning his pensive pen, leads us on to infiniti in Griifin & Sabine, Where we thought we knew the heart, he provides heartbreak. Where we assuredly trusted our instincts, he turns them into sphincters. Where we needed a hug, he offers a glimpse of lover's paranoia.
We've all been fooled before by love, but here Bantock makes us enjoy the surprise. With all the shock of a Dear John missive, Bantock leaves us shouting, "No ... no ... no ...!"
Larry Rochelle, author of BOURBON & BLISS, DEATH & DEVOTION, DANCE WITH THE PONY and TRACETRACKS.

I just can't say enough about this book! It was given to me by a friend, as a gift, and I just fell in love with the book and the story. The letters that you can remove from a "real" envelope are a wonderful touch, and the artwork adds an entirely new dimension to the experience! If you are at all romantic, or slightly nosy, or would love to be "in" on two people's story as they fall in love, then buy this book!

How many times have you heard the expression "It has everything in it"? Well, this book is closely related to that phrase. In an original format of postcards and letters, you have to take out of their envelopes, the book reveals to you the mysterious story of Griffin and Sabine. It all starts from a postcard sent to a lonely and strange artist in London, from a woman he never saw before in his life. To all you chat-loving who enjoy the idea of chatting with strangers you've never met, see how it really becomes magical. The book is brilliantly illustrated and you can always go through it again, discovering details you missed the last time. I can give you my word, that finishing it will live you with wide opened mouth, crying for more, and buying copies to your love ones, so that they can enjoy it too

An epistolary novel in which Griffin Moss, a postcard artist in London, and Sabine Strohem, a postage stamp illustrator in the South Seas, fall in love via the mail, never having seen or spoken to each other. The book is illustrated in varying styles, from detailed line drawings to collages.

What I found most interesting about this book was the format. Although I had seen this before in a childrens book (Letters from Felix/Abbeville Kids), it worked extremely well for an adult title. The inclusion of letters and postcards made me feel like I was actually opening someone else's mail and there is something a little exciting about this. It's almost as if you're doing something you're not supposed to be doing. The illustrations were absolutely beautiful, too. The frustrating aspect of this book, however, is that you really don't know if this correspondence truly exists, or is just a figment of the artist's imagination. Is he insane? The story was both moving as well as unique. If anything, you'll want to hang on to the book as a keepsake just for its beauty alone.

As I read other reviews of this book, I am a little confused as to what everyone thinks of the ending of the series. Especially whatever person said he didnt care if he understood it or not. I loved the books, I just wish there was some other kind of commentary on the conclusion of it besides my own....

I just read this book today. It was a lot of fun to actually take the letters out and read them. My boyfriend brought his copy for me to read at work today and as soon as I read it I went out looking for the second one. I was surprised to find it in the art history section at Borders. I can't afford to buy the trilogy so I'm eagerly awaiting tomorrow when I can go back to the bookstore and read the other two!

I've never seen anything like this book and the others in the series. It's been years since I first discovered this book and it is still just as stunning and delicious as the first time I read it. If you are adventurous and imaginitive and just a little bit 'out there' you will adore this discovery in letters.

Like the previous review, I became intranced with the journey of Sabine and Griffin, by receiving books one a two as gifts from a man I will never meet. Across the miles, and through our extraordinary communications, we have touched each other's hearts. We have lasted 5 years of correspondence. May those who are fortunate to land upon this unique writing enjoy it as much as I have, and I thank my friend, for always being a gentleman and the introduction to this series.
Come take a journey of heartfelt pleasures, that only through writing will allow your mind to travel as you begin Griffin and Sabine... with each envelope you open you feel like you are swept into a private world, all your own.

I was expossed to this book just the other day. I was waiting in the Admissions office to the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and this book was sitting on the coffee table. I picked it up and started to read it. I was completely amazed. The format is incredible and having the tangible letters was such a great idea. It felt so real, and the voyeristic quality was intriging. Latter I was talking to someone about it and they told me that there were more books. I was so excited because I just felt cheated by the way the first book ended. I can't wait to read the rest. The illustrations are amazing.

I'm a student, and my art teacher had this book on display for us. I read the first couple of pages and asked if I could take it home-where I quickly devoured it's beautiful art and awesome story. I can't wait to read the second and third book. It made me want to write letters with a fountain pen like Sabine does. I loved the story because I feel a little the same way about a person I email all the time, but have never met. If you're thinking about reading this book, I urge you!!

Reading Griffin and Sabine is a bit of a guilty pleasure, as if you are secretly reading someone else's love letters. The concept of reading postcards and peeling open letters is so unique and at once memorable. The illustrations on every page are beautiful and provide an insight to the main characters, Griffin & Sabine. This first book in the trilogy is my favourite. An opening to an intriguing, romantic and at times, heart wrenching love story.

From the moment I opened the first book of this trilogy, I was in love. A beautiful, mysterious story drawn out in real letters and postcards. The story is only heightened by the breathtaking artwork on each page. I highly recommend these books, and that you read them in order. Each has a sudden and mysterious ending that leaves you yearning for more.

We were in a community service where there was no tv or computer to keep us entertain. So my groupmate brought this book and I read it and I liked it. I told my another groupmate about it and she read it and before the end of the week all of my groupmates had read it. And needless to say, we had a long debate about the entire meaning of the book.

Reading this book is an exciting experience to read correspondence between two people who seem to touch ones life. Reading this truly does make one want to revifve the lost are of the letter. I can't wait toread the next one in the series.

I belong to a collage artist group and everyone talked about these books and altering them. Now I see why they wanted to alter them, to give the pages & story some character. The story was simplistic and without imagination and the pictures, we all do so much better. There are much better books out there, don't know what all the fuss is about this one. Don't waste your money!

How many times have you heard the expression "It has everything in it"? Well, this book is closely related to that phrase. In an original format of postcards and letters, you have to take out of their envelopes, the book reveals to you the mysterious story of Griffin and Sabine. It all starts from a postcard sent to a lonely and strange artist in London, from a woman he never saw before in his life. To all you chat-loving who enjoy the idea of chatting with strangers you've never met, see how it really becomes magical. The book is brilliantly illustrated and you can always go through it again, discovering details you missed the last time. I can give you my word, that finishing it will live you with wide opened mouth, crying for more, and buying copies to your love ones, so that they can enjoy it too

What I found most interesting about this book was the format. Although I had seen this before in a childrens book (Letters from Felix/Abbeville Kids), it worked extremely well for an adult title. The inclusion of letters and postcards made me feel like I was actually opening someone else's mail and there is something a little exciting about this. It's almost as if you're doing something you're not supposed to be doing. The illustrations were absolutely beautiful, too. The frustrating aspect of this book, however, is that you really don't know if this correspondence truly exists, or is just a figment of the artist's imagination. Is he insane? The story was both moving as well as unique. If anything, you'll want to hang on to the book as a keepsake just for its beauty alone.

This book changed the way I read. Bantock's technique is the most original, breathtaking, profound and beautiful form of storytelling imaginable. This book is truly unique and interactive. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a writer that really breaks out of the same-old-same-old and aspires to create a book that makes you live the story, not just read it! This is a must-own!

This was a gift for a friend in Canada. I was not able to view its condition, although my friend seemed pleased with the purchase. The delivery time lengthened somewhat due to shipping outside the U.S. Bottom line, I'm glad to have this relatively simple, convenient, and cost-effective means to send gifts to people.

I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I came across Griffin and Sabine's story. I was just looking for something to keep me company on a quiet Sunday evening. I'm just a collector of pretty things and books. If I see something pretty and eye-catching, chances are I will add it to my shelf or closet of mentionables and unmentionables. I have never seen or read a book like this one and it fascinated me- a person who likes to take glimpses and long observations of details in strange places. The entire volume was composed of bizarre postcards and letters waiting for any reader seeking a "romance" of sorts to jump in and invade the sender's and recipient's privacy. All I can tell you was that this first volume was not enough when I had finished it on a cliffhanger. I needed to know what happened next. I needed more and so like a drug I ordered the second volume.

I ordered from my daughters gift list. I was surprised at the size of the book. I purchased this years ago for my younger daughter.
It was a beautiful large format. This is small and rather cheap. I do not know if this daughter even realizes the difference. I do not
know if it has all the stuff that the first format had. We will. However, I could not fine it available in the larger format now.