By Isabel Fraser

Copyright metro

The donation guide price for this bottle may just leave you speechless (Picture: Livingstone)

Are you a bookworm, scotch-lover or just looking for the magic of nostalgia?

Whatever the case, you won’t want to miss the chance to own a one-of-a-kind “William Shakespeare” bottle of whisky, illustrated (and signed) by world-famous illustrator Quentin Blake.

If you’re one of the few who don’t recognise his name, you’ll certainly recognise the artist’s classic style. Quentin’s distinctive illustrations go hand in hand with Roald Dahl’s books, such as The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Twits, and more recently on David Walliams’ first children’s novels.

Quentin Blake illustrated many of the nations favourite childhood stories (Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Now he has turned his hand to an ultra rare bottle of whisky (the contents inside are over half a century old), which has been on show at Sotheby’s on New Bond Street since September 19 and is set to be sold at The Distillers One of One’s charity auction on October 10.

It’s also part of a wider Macbeth collection by design studio Livingstone and whisky makers Elixir Distillers.

Speaking to Metro, Alexis Livingstone Burgess who founded Livingstone said he had always dreamt of releasing a collection of old and rare scotch from many different distilleries.

‘I could never really think of a way of doing it until I thought of the history of the scotch business which often involved families competing and trying to kill each other,’ said Alexis.

‘I thought this is just like Macbeth. That would be the perfect structure for a project like this.’

With creative help from whisky writer Dave Broom and — of course — Quentin Blake, Livingstone and Elixr Distillers created a series of 42 limited edition Scotch whiskies featuring characters from the Scottish play.

‘Act I’ of the Macbeth collection (Picture: Livingstone)

With each character ‘cast’ as a bottle of whisky, royals are matched with high-value, rare whiskies, while the six ghosts in the play are partnered with those from so-called ‘ghost’ distilleries that have since shut down.

Any literature lovers will know that, at its core, the play is an exploration of good and evil, and Dave had the idea to cast ‘good’ characters as pure, bourbon whiskies, while ‘evil’ characters are represented by dark, smoked spirit.

The Shakespeare bottle was a little more complicated, admits Alexis.

The Shakespeare bottle was more complex to cast as a type of whisky than the characters of Macbeth (Picture: Livingstone)

‘It was a difficult start, as there’s little biographical information about Shakespeare as a person. We decided to make it simple, and think about the two universal things people can agree on — that [Shakespeare’s work is] very very good and very old.’

As such, they chose a whisky that has been aged and retained it’s vibrancy — the Mortlach Single Malt Scotch Whisky that has matured for 63 years.

Alexis then approached Quentin to bring the vision of the whole collection to life.

‘I worked for him as a designer for about 20 years,’ he said. ‘I knew him quite well, but I’d never asked him for anything before.’

‘I don’t think he could think of a way of drawing 42 men in kilts. So I said what about drawing them as birds.’

Known for his anthropomorphic drawings, Quentin enjoys illustrating birds because the way that they stand on two legs makes for a human-like nature. Therefore, Alexis’ suggestion was welcomed, with the pair agreeing that only the Bard should be illustrated as a person.

Whoever bids highest for the bottle will also receive Quentin’s original Shakespeare illustration (Picture: Livingstone)

Whoever gets their hands on the bottle after bidding will also get Quentin’s original Shakespeare drawing, which has been replicated just once for the label.

‘Quentin very rarely sells public drawings,’ said Alexis. ‘For any drawings of his published in a book, he keeps the original in an archive of over 250,00 illustrations.’

The first ever Children’s Laureate, Quentin has been hailed the world’s greatest living illustrator — and may be seen to some as an unlikely choice to illustrate a strictly over-18 product. Alexis recalled even having to ‘convince’ the Scotch Malt Whisky Society that he wasn’t ‘selling whisky to children’ — which he managed to do successfully.

Quentin’s design captures the darker themes of the tragic play (Picture: Livingstone)

‘Quentin’s illustrated Shakespeare, and Dickens. A lot of the Roald Dahl books he illustrated were quite grim,’ said Alexis. ‘Quentin has the ability to inhabit those emotions without making it just gory and horrific.’

Alexis also acknowledged how Quentin’s work is recognised by all generations, saying ‘it’s hard to think of other illustrators who have had that impact.’

As part of another chairty event, Quentin designed a dust jacket for a first edition copy of ‘The Hunchback of Notre-Dame’ by Victor Hugo (Picture: DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images)

Since their first charity auction in 2021, The Distillers One of One have raised £4.3 million, primarily donated to the Youth Action Fund.

Their fundraising has supported disadvantaged young people in Scotland to make a positive contribution to their communities and reach their potential.

Known as the largest global charity auction of rare Scottish whisky, the company will be donating 100% of the hammer price of each item to good causes.

The Distiller’s One of One’s third charity auction is set to take place at Hopetoun House in Scotland, the home of Shakespeare’s tragic play.

All’s well that ends well – if you want to get your hands on this individual item, the bid estimate sits between £20,000 and £26,000.

The auction will take place on 10 October at Hopetoun House near Edinburgh. The London preview in Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries is on public view until 30 September.