Around the fourth quarter of 2024, The Redwall Cookbook received a repackaged edition for the first time in nearly two decades. While the interior is the same Brian Jacques content that was first published in 2005, the exterior jacket was completely redesigned by Penguin's Anabeth Bostrup.
Of interest, Bostrup and Redwall Cookbook illustrator Christopher Denise both attended the Rhode Island School of Design.
The front cover now features a yellow background color, Denise's artwork from the Autumn section on page 50, as well as an altered layout. The various ingredients float above the feasting Redwall Abbey residents, and the title has been relocated to the top. The back is the same artwork that was used previously, however the size has been expanded, with the words "Come join the Redwall feast!" appearing over it.
According to Bostrup's website, she "wanted to focus on maintaining the beauty and delicacy of the art while modernizing the cover for a current audience."
The jacket flaps, colored green with white text, contain new biographies for Denise and Jacques, and a minor update to the book summary - instead of "For almost twenty years" it begins with "For years and years."
"When I was much younger I read as well as watched the animated REDWALL series, and was thrilled to be asked to work on the new design for the cookbook!" Bostrup told the Redwall Wiki. "Our main goal in updating the jacket design was to bring something new, fun, and kid appealing to the cookbook."
"Christopher Denise, the illustrator, had done some absolutely beautiful (and delicious) looking food illustrations in the interior and I wanted to bring those to the forefront to really give the book that cookbook feeling. When looking at cookbooks for reference, I ultimately felt that warm colors (red, yellow, orange etc.) appeared more appetizing, hence the decision to go with the yellow background. I also felt it gave the art such a warmth to it while highlighting the details in Christopher's gorgeous and timeless illustrations," Bostrup said.
The Redwall Wiki first noticed that The Redwall Cookbook cover was updated on Amazon late last year, however when we ordered the book directly from the retailer, the paperback we received was the original one, with the white cover, suggesting that older books may still be in circulation and it's a bit unclear what you're going to get when ordering online. We walked into our local Barnes & Noble and grabbed our copy of this new edition the old school way, in person, and it was nice to see the 2010 Redwall Editions on their shelves too.
See the photos below for the new Cookbook jacket design, as well as a comparison to the old one. What do you think?
- Want to keep up-to-date on all the latest Redwall and Brian Jacques news, reviews, and special features? Get social with us!
| YouTube | TikTok | Threads | Bluesky |