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Gary Nicholls Imaginarium

Gary Nicholls Imaginarium

The Imaginarium Trilogy

A Dickensian steampunk novel where every illustration is a photograph I built from scratch. Three volumes, over 450 images, eight years so far.

The Imaginarium Trilogy started as one picture and refused to stop there. The story runs through Victorian London and somewhere adjacent to it: serial murder, kidnapping, time travel, and a bordello where rather more is going on than trade.

What makes it unlike other illustrated books is that nothing in it is drawn or generated. Every image is a photographic composite, made the same way as the prints in the collection. Over 150 images in each volume, more than 450 across the trilogy.

The cast

There were no auditions. My one rule is that you have to be a genuine steampunk to be in the story. If I meet someone in an amazing costume the character forms in my mind instantly, back story and all. I give them that back story, and they become the person I had in mind.

The books carry a cast of over 150 real people, in their own costumes. The steampunk community is extraordinarily creative, and there is no shortage of characters — but it only works for me if I see the character on first sight.

What goes into one image

Between 100 and 300 hours each. The street scene in Book One took over six hundred.

The elements come from New York, London, Barcelona, Cambodia, Poland, Kefalonia and Portugal. Where I cannot find the exact location, I build one — that street is made from buildings all over Britain, from Leamington to London.

The treasure hunt in Book Two

Book Two — The Imaginarium: The Box of Enlightenment — has something extra, designed to make you look closely. I was a keen adventure gamer in a past life, so each of its 150 images has symbols hidden in the scene. Find them all and crack the code, and you have a 150-word riddle. Solve the riddle and it gives you a website address.

Book One — Eva’s Story

The first volume introduces Eva and the world she is trying to survive. Several works in the collection come directly from its pages — The Town is from Book One, and Chaos from Book Two — so if a print has caught your eye, the book is where it came from.

Works from Book One

Works from Book Two

Book Two, and the film

Book Two is now The Imaginarium: The Box of Enlightenment, and it will be released alongside the short film of the same name — a twelve-minute steampunk film based on the trilogy, written with the actress and director Dawn Wall.

Writing the script changed Book Three too: a new scenario, and a different ending.

What you are actually buying

Each volume is individually numbered, signed and hologrammed. The edition is capped at 1,000 copies per volume, and over 800 of Book One have already gone. There will be no reprint.

Buying Book One reserves your number for Books Two and Three, so the set you end up with is matched rather than three unrelated numbers. If collecting a complete numbered set matters to you, start with Book One and your place is held.

Book One — Eva’s Story

A note on the eight years

People ask why it takes so long. A single image can need models, costume, several separate location shoots and a fortnight of compositing before it works — and there are more than 450 of them. The trilogy is the largest thing I have ever attempted and probably the largest I ever will.