Shortly after I was offered a contract for the Origami Bible, a similar proposal came from Quarto (folding basics, simple, intermediate, complex sections, then a gallery. Out of fairness I asked both parties whether they felt there was a potential conflict and the general answer was; "as long as they're different models and words, no!".

So, off I trotted. The "Bible" had been earmarked to feature largely my own designs, so for this book I did the rounds of people whose origami I felt deserved a bit of exposure and put together a contents list. Some, like Brill and Fuse, are well established, but others, like Beynon and Corrie haven't been widely published, for some reason.

The intial proofs I had back were very encouraging. The designer, Karin Skanberg, produced clear, attractive layouts, with a subtle geometric feel to them. The final book looks superb, in my impartial opinion, and anyone "flicking" through it won't be disappointed.

The gallery section generated the most discussion, as I refused to allow several models that the publishers really liked, but I felt were a little substandard. In the end, lack of time meant I had to compromise with a few photos, but it would have been wonderful to feature (for instance) the works of Takashi and Yoshizawa. The average newcomer to origami should be uniformly impressed by the entire gallery.

I managed to squeeze in a glossary at the very end - something I think more origami books could do with. Like any craft, we have our fair share of jargon and often seem to suppose people just work it out...

The cover looks great, although I wonder how many people will expect to find instructions for the designs featured. Several are from the gallery section. However, it's a small niggle and, as ever, the author has bu**er all say in the cover!

It's been translated a few times, here are the covers. Please let me know if you see any others - I'm usually the last to know ;)

- the publishers have reissued this book and took the opportunity to revise the gallery section inside. I provided a list of current top-flight creators and introduced them to the company. This is a good thing, since some of the images they sourced first time round were less than wonderful. However, they also changed the cover, managing in the process to produce perhaps the first origami book where none of the models on the cover are inside the book!! I pointed this out to no avail and of course, I don't get a single penny for the reprint.

ISBN 1-84448-025-9: