Author: Charles van Sandwyk. Illustrated by the author.
Title: Fah-nama-nama-nama-lah. A Tale of One Elephant & Three Continents.
Publisher: Vancouver, The Savuti Press, 2025. Limited “Touring Edition” of 150 hand-bound copies.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 10 x 7 inches.
Pages: Unpaginated (28 pages).
Binding: Fine binding. Bound in metallic blue card wraps with an integrated shimmering gold card cover, delicately adorned with hand-painted bamboo borders. Both inside flaps are decorated with colorful butterfly illustrations. Spine hand-stitched, as issued. Paper title label and an exquisite tipped-on watercolor plate grace the upper cover. A pristine, fine copy.
Content: Internally pristine, bright, and tight, as new. Signed in ink by Charles van Sandwyk on the front blank. The pages are printed on premium Kipling soft white mould-made stock, featuring scalloped triple rules and elegant drop capitals. This copy includes two authentic facsimile ephemera (a passenger ticket and a zoo ticket), tipped in as part of the narrative experience.
Illustrations: Lavishly illustrated throughout by Charles van Sandwyk with a mix of black-and-white sketches and full-page tipped-in watercolors mounted on gold card, as well as a charming double-page centerfold. The book’s design harmoniously blends ornamental typography, calligraphy, and whimsical marginalia.

Estimate: (Scarce with no or few other copies available for sale worldwide).

The book: A rare and enchanting production from Charles van Sandwyk, Fah-nama-nama-nama-lah was privately printed in a strictly limited “Touring Edition” of 150 hand-bound copies, each intended to accompany the author during his travels. Seven years in the making, the story gently recounts the life-spanning friendship between a young boy and a beloved elephant he met in Ceylon, whose presence is rediscovered decades later in a Canadian zoo. A meditation on memory, wonder, and reconnection, this delicately told and gorgeously produced work is inspired by the real-life friendship between van Sandwyk and Neil Hershfield, to whom the book is dedicated.

The author: Charles van Sandwyk (b. 1966) is one of Canada’s most beloved contemporary book artists, celebrated for his richly illustrated limited editions and whimsical style evoking the golden age of bookmaking. Known for his work with the Folio Society (The Wind in the Willows, The Blue Fairy Book), his own finely printed works under the Savuti Press imprint have become highly collectible for their craftsmanship and timeless charm.