Thursday, October 8, 2026 · Graphic Design
Balbusso Twins Return to Gilead for Folio Society’s Deluxe Atwood Set
Noted by Marika Lind · 402 reads
A 750-copy leather-bound set pairs Atwood’s two novels with new Balbusso Twins artwork, Italian bookmaking and new writing by Atwood and Naomi Alderman.
The visual identity Anna and Elena Balbusso began developing for The Handmaid’s Tale returns in a new Folio Society set that brings the novel together with its sequel, The Testaments. The limited edition is scheduled for release on November 3, 2026, and includes new artwork by the Italian illustrators, custom leather binding and contributions from both Margaret Atwood and Naomi Alderman.
Only 750 copies will be made, each hand-signed. The twins designed the clamshell presentation box, which holds the two books and frames them as a connected visual world. The publisher plans to unveil the new illustrations on the release date, so the full image system and its details have yet to be seen.
A return shaped by earlier work
The collaboration has a longer history than this edition. In 2012, the Balbusso Twins illustrated Folio Society’s edition of The Handmaid’s Tale. Their research for that project informed a visual language they later brought to the cover of Directory of Illustration 37 (DI37). The new set revisits that world after 15 years, as the artists describe it, and extends their treatment of Atwood’s fiction to The Testaments.
The twins’ original interpretation arrived five years before the Hulu television adaptation. Looking back, Anna and Elena said their red handmaids preceded the screen version and helped establish a visual reference for artists and designers working with dystopian imagery. They described the return to Gilead as a “natural homecoming.” That history gives the new edition a specific design challenge: it must connect with imagery readers may already know while giving the sequel and the earlier novel room to retain their own identities.
“Those red handmaids born before any screen… Our red handmaids were born five years before the TV series, defining a unique dystopian iconographic milestone that served as a global blueprint for designers, artists, directors, and illustrators alike. After 15 years, returning to Gilead felt like a natural homecoming.”
— Anna & Elena Balbusso
The Blood, dystopian screenprint poster created by the Balbusso Twins for Dark City Gallery, 2018 (Not included in the upcoming box set).
Cover artwork created by the Balbusso Twins for Directory of Illustration 37 (DI37)
Cover artwork for The Testaments designed by the Balbusso Twins for Margaret Atwood’s masterpieces collection published by Corriere della Sera, 2023
(Not included in the upcoming box set).
Geometry, texture and a “surrealist nightmare”
The twins describe the visual world of both books as a “surrealist nightmare,” with geometry and physical materials connecting past and future. Their approach combines drawing and painting with digital finishing: pencil, watercolor, gouache and tempera form the handmade basis, while digital tools help bring the images to a finished standard. This mix lets the work keep visible material character while supporting the precision needed for a finely produced book.
The set also includes a previously unpublished piece made specifically for The Handmaid’s Tale, alongside new work for The Testaments. The distinction matters for a paired edition: readers will encounter artwork created for this set, not simply a reprint of the twins’ earlier covers. Once the illustrations are unveiled, their relationship across the two books will show how the artists have carried their earlier visual language forward.
Production extends the material idea into the books themselves. Grafiche Veneziane, described in the source as Venice’s oldest operating book printer, will print the volumes. They will then be taken across the city’s canals by gondola before Italian bookbinder Graphicom hand-binds them in leather. The custom clamshell, Italian leather and hand finishing make the object part of the project’s design, rather than a neutral container for the illustrations.
Atwood and Alderman add context
Atwood’s new introduction points to the visual nature of her fiction and the way its characters read the world around them: “The Handmaid’s Tale is a very visual book. Those who lack power always see more than they say.” She also connects the Balbussos’ imagery with “the feel and the colour palette of the thirties and forties,” and with the era’s major dictatorships. Her comments give readers a lens on the historical references in the artwork, while the twins’ use of strict geometry and carefully chosen materials offers a way to make those references tangible on the page.
Alderman contributes a new foreword for the set. She writes that the story continues to push itself back into the modern world, a point that links the books’ enduring subject matter with the artists’ return to their earlier work. The new edition’s design will be most revealing in how it handles that tension across two novels: through the images, the physical form of the books and the shared presentation box.
For the Balbusso Twins, the edition connects a defining earlier commission with a fresh interpretation of both books. For readers and design teams, the November 3, 2026 unveiling will offer the clearest view of how the artists translate that history into new images—and how the print and binding choices carry the same visual thinking into the finished object.
More work by the Balbusso Twins
Anna and Elena Balbusso are Italian illustrators based in Milan. Their work spans illustration, fine art and design, and they have illustrated more than 50 books, including editions for The Folio Society, Beehive Books and Suntup Editions. Other titles in their publishing work include Pride and Prejudice, Atlas Shrugged, The Great Gatsby and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
Their recognition includes being named among the Norman Rockwell Museum’s “Illustrators of the Decade” for 2010–2020, four Gold Medals from the Society of Illustrators New York, the V&A Illustration Award for Best Book and three 3×3 Best of Show honors. In 2026, they received the Hamilton King Award, becoming the first Italian artists to receive the distinction, and marked their 25th anniversary with a solo exhibition at the Museum of Illustration of the Society of Illustrators in New York. A limited-edition monograph designed by DJ Stout / Pentagram TX accompanied the exhibition. Their work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times and The Economist.
View Anna & Elena Balbusso’s portfolio on the Directory of Illustration, or visit Shannon Associates to see its represented artists.
Follow the twins on Instagram at @balbusso_twins.
