A word from Ivan Clarke
There are many examples of autographed rare books trading for large sums at auction houses. These special collectables have one thing in common; they're the original windows through which the world first viewed new places, met new characters and learned of fantasies that would one day become immortalized in our imaginations.
Who would have ever dreamed that Disneys "Steamboat Willy" (later the world would know as Mickey Mouse), A.A. Milne's Pooh Bear, Thedore Giesel's (Dr Suess) Cat in the Hat, Flemmings 007 and Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" among many others would sell for tens, hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars through auction houses like Southebys and Christies around the world.
So what about the 21st century? Of course we all look forward to seeing tomorrows classics unfold before us. Lonely Dog may go down in history among the very best, it may not. What is certain is this: if The Lonely Dog goes on to great things, then there may well be millions who will dearly love to own a part of it, to have the opportunity to own a piece of this legacy in the making. That is why we have created the ALMALOGUE as a rare work of art, this is something that I believe has never been undertaken before. You won't even find the word in the dictionary.
With a collective team of recognized talent I've personally undertaken to develop this project as something that will truly be celebrated in time to come. Unlike many other well-known examples of sought after books, the ALMALOGUE has been meticulously presented using archival materials, light-fast inks and museum quality representation including documented certificates of authenticity establishing a credible record of provenance. We've even purposely aged and defaced the book to look like it was made by dogs. Every page has it's own individual character, because of the archival nature of the book we've had to print the faults, discoloring on every page (except for the colour plates) as we didn't want it looking new. No it's not the predictable red velvet lined box with guilt edge pages, this has been made by working class Hounds in tattered blue overalls. Grubby paw prints, smudges and even doodlings and a shopping list scrawled in the corner of a page is evidence that the ALMALOGUE has been around many times before in Port Alveridge.
What has greatly spurred me on is the overwhelming enthusiasm of many. I've had recognized talent from around the world including film, stage show and music producers, movie directors, animators, musicians, sculptors, composers and writers catch the vision of this project. This has given me all the encouragement I need to believe we've created something very special for future generations.