Reel Art Press shouts ‘action’ on luxury entertainment titles

The Rat Pack and the designer of the movie posters for “Casablanca”, “Dirty Harry” and “A Clockwork Orange” are the subjects of two launch titles from a new publishing company.

Reel Art Press has been set up by the founders of west London vintage movie poster shop, the Reel Poster Gallery. It launches in the autumn and will focus on “exclusive numbered, limited edition publications with a focus on entertainment art”.

The first book will be a photographic retrospective about The Rat Pack. Celebrating 50 years since the Rat Pack played in Las Vegas, the 450-page book will feature previously unseen photographs of the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr, both on and off duty.

The Rat Pack is out on 15th October in a 2,250 limited edition print-run, priced £400, although Reel Art Press co-founder Tony Nourmand said the price will increase as the stocks diminish.
Reel Art Press will follow this with Bill Gold: PosterWorks, which is released on 1st November in a limited edition print run of 1,500. Pricing and pricing strategy are the same as for The Rat Pack. Gold’s career as a movie poster designer spanned six decades and more than 2,000 films. As well as “Casablanca” and “Dirty Harry”, he also designed posters for “The Searchers”, “Bullitt” and “Dial M for Murder”.

The 450-page book has a foreword by Clint Eastwood and features final posters, unseen designs and variations. Nourmand said the books were aimed at “connoisseurs”. He previously released titles through various trade publishers but Nourmand said he set up Reel Art Press for full control of the publishing process.

He added he would be keen on working with a trade publisher for mass marketing editions.