I was inspired by the the film the Ninth Gate to reproduce the book featured...... but with a twist.
Those of you accessing this page will know that the film is based on the novel El Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte, and stars Johnny Depp as Dean Corso, a rare-book dealer hired by a wealthy book collector to validate a copy of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, a book by the 17th century author Aristide Torchia.
These 2 images are from the binder who made the props for the film.The grain in the leather shows it is a poor quality sheep skin. The binding for my version will look similar to the one in the film but it will be bound in a fine hand tanned consecrated virgin calf and not a rough old piece of chrome tanned "hair" sheep. It will also be a true 17thC style binding, the one in the film is just a leather "case." The colour will be a 17thC formula that produces a rich blue - black called "midnight black" instead of a black aniline dye. I was thinking of blind tooling goetic Sigils within the pentacle.
The book in the film consists of paragraphs of printed text that is repeated called "filler text" and doesn't actually mean anything. Even the title "DE VMBRARVM REGNI NOVEM PORTIS" doesn't translate correctly (The "Umbrella" Kingdom of Nine?) Portis is not a Latin word. The true title is UT REGNUM DE UMBRA NONUS PORTA, "Porta" meaning "Gate" or "gate to a city."
The twist being:- My version comprises of "Nine Books of the Mysterious Arts" each "gate" opening a genuine book of alchemy or occult lore.
These are some of the pages I have typeset and printed on an antique laid.
11 comments:
can i buy this book by any chance?
What website can I buy this on chris Barlow?
Greetings Mr. Paul, I have just sent you an email asking for information about possibly applying for a copy of this book. However, I am writing this comment to inform you that the paragraph from this very post where you talk about the book's original title (as it appears in the movie) and how it would be wrong latin, is wrong itself instead. Having been a rather brilliant (if I am allowed to say that) latin student for 5 years myself, I know latin very well and I would like to let you know that whomever told you the book's title does not make sense, must not know much about latin after all. "Novem Portis Umbrarum Regni" is absolutely correct, from both a syntactical and a morphological point of view, and it literally translates into "The Nine Gates to the Kingdom of Shadows". Your "Ut Regnum de Umbra Nonus Porta" is totally, utterly wrong, and I may add it is instantly recognizable as a very broken and laughable form of latin to anyone who is learned in the language. I can provide you with further explanation as to how latin truly works, and why the original terms are, in fact, 100% correct as they are portrayed in the film, if you wish. I'm sorry that pointing this out ultimately results into all your previously made copies of the book - with the terms "Nonus Porta" - presenting a blatant error, but I just love latin and preserving it for the mere sake of truth is a thing of importance... and in my humble opinion it should be fixed in your future works, to stay on par with the level of craftsmanship that is being offered elsewhere by yourself. Take care
wow
Ouch!
Ouch!
Id like to puechase one from you. How much does it cost and how.do i order it.
Portis is the plural form of porta, which makes complete sense being that it is the "nine gates" not "ninth gate".
Great skill in binding and creation but changing the latin which was already correct ruins this in my opinion
Well it's not just about whether it's singular or plural, there's also the case of the declension to consider (every latin declension has six singular cases and as many for plural). One of the six plural cases, specifically the one for the adverbial of subject (which is the case at hand) is indeed "portis". =)
Post a Comment