The Polar Star: James, First Duke of Hamilton (1606-1649)
A political biography of a Scottish nobleman who was related to King Charles I and involved in the Thirty Years War, the English Civil Wars, and the Irish Rebellion.
The brief required I use this specific painting as a cover image and they asked for a traditional layout similar to other historical biographies. So to give it a personal stamp and authenticity I hunted down a font that would be in keeping with the century and subject. It's part of a set called the Fell Types, a modern version of seventeenth century type, digitised from papers bequeathed to the University of Oxford.
The spine, dust jacket and back cover also have to tie in with the cover design.
