Pet Project a Winner at $28,000 a copy

For $28,000 you get 1,400 Harry Potter books or this – a hand made book featuring a singing dog hero and original art. Queenstown landscape artist Ivan Clarke has taken his Lonely Dog character, inspired by his family pet, from paintings and sculpture into one of the country’s most expensive books. Seventy of the 95 copies have been sold to New Zealand and International collectors, and the rest are set for overseas release. The dog’s exploits in the cat-and-dog divided town of Alveridge may be headed to the big screen, with a production company formed with Peter Jackson’s Academy Award winning Weta Workshop.

Click here to watch a video of the Almalogue binding process

Once upon a time: Cover to Cover managing director Matthew Hinman leafs through a copy of Alveridgea and the Legend of the Lonely Dog, below.

Lonely the dog on a gilded page

It has the colourful drawings, animals, heroes and villains of a good children’s book, but a new South Island publication comes at a grown-up price - $28,000.

Only 95 of the elaborate books, with the equally grand title of Alveridgea and the Legend of the Lonely Dog, have been made, and the price has not stopped 70 of them from being sold.

They are the work of Queenstown painter Ivan Clarke, writer Stu Duval, Christchurch bookbinder Matthew Hinman and a team of creative designers.

The books takes the form of a catalogue of the town of Alveridge, divided between hoity-toity cats on the one side and blues-singing, working-class dogs on “Houndside”.

It is also the home of Clarke’s character, Lonely Dog, who appears like a doggy Elvis and takes the town by storm with his high-powered rock’n’roll sound.

Apprentice bookbinder Rachel Kirk checks the work.

Despite the cartoon appearance, all 70 books had been sold to adults who appreciate the detail and multiple levels of the story, said executive producer Graham Burt.

Clarke and the designers have made the book as if it was stolen from the Alveridgea library and used as a reporter’s notebook.

The hefty price tag is justified by individually hand-printed pages, hand sewn binding, a hand embossed leather cover with hand-cast bronze inlays, hand-marbled pages, limited edition prints (hand-printed) and an original work by Clarke set into the centre-leaf.

It comes in a hand-crafted oak box and weighs 15kg.

A non-handmade Gold edition without the prints and original work is available for $3,000.

Clarke, a landscape painter, began painting the Lonely Dog series for his children after seeing how sad the family dog was when they went on holiday. “I began painting Lonely Dog about three years ago as a bit of a departure from the normal. Now I can’t seem to get out of it” he said. “I’ve never had an amazing way with words, but I’ve got a fertile imagination.”

The books, the only ones to be produced, were in production for two years. Burt said that a Lonely Dog production company had been formed with film director Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop. The company was in talks with Hollywood studios about a film.

Artist Ivan Clarke provided images for the book.

Photos: Carys Monteath