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On Friday I met Elinor Jansz & Richard Embray from Four Corners Books. With backgrounds in publishing and the art world they came together to create one of the most beautiful small presses around.

Four Corners publish art books, with their first serious success being Come Alive!, the examining the work of Sister Corita, Catholic nun and Pop artist. Their one stated intention was “not to produce catalogues” and so the book is the primary object, with the work selected first for book and not gallery display.

However, the Come Alive! launch was naturally followed by a small exhibition of Sister Corita’s prints at Wolfgang Tillmans’ Between Bridges gallery. And their wonderfully bright and plastic Jet Age Compendium of Eduardo Paolozzi’s work at Ambit Magazine—which I wrote about at Bookkake—was similarly followed by a wonderfully bright exhibition at Raven Row. And later this year they hope to repeat the trick with the posters of Mai ’68.

With the intention of getting “art books” beyond the insular world of galleries and art bookshops, Four Corners’ Familiars series consists of illustrated books for adults, matching contemporary artists with literature. Titles include Dracula with art by James Pyman, The Picture of Dorian Gray with Gareth Jones, and my personal favourite, A Stick of Green Candy with art by Colter Jacobsen illustrating short stories by Jane Bowles and Denton Welch.

For the moment, the books are still mostly sold in art bookstores and some general bookstores – and you can order online. No, really, order them.