The Collection was launched yesterday evening at simultaneous events held at six locations across the UK: Brighton, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds, London and Manchester.

More than 1,800 people attended, with guests drawn from brand owners, designers, printers and GF Smith’s mill partners.

“We wanted to create something that was both inspirational and functional,” said GF Smith joint managing director John Haslam. “It’s had a phenomenal response and we’re absolutely delighted about it.”

The Collection was 18 months in the making. Each book weighs more than 1.5kg, and includes 45 paper ranges across 403pp. It is indexed in three ways, allowing users to search by range, application, or alphabetically.

It’s also the first time GF Smith has presented its paper samples as sheets, rather than chips. “We wanted people to get a true sense of each paper’s texture and essence,” Haslam explained. “We also expect people will discover papers they’ve never used before.”

He praised the work of design company Made Thought, which partnered with GF Smith on the project, and printers Pureprint.

“Lloyd Bromhead [business development director at Pureprint] and Ben Parker and his team at Made Thought have done the most incredible job on this,” he said.

The Collection includes samples of the Naturalis high-end uncoated range made by Tullis Russell Papermakers, which went into administration earlier this week.

“We are in communication with KPMG about securing our supply chain situation in one way or another,” Haslam stated. “We would love it if someone could get hold of the mill and keep making beautiful paper in Scotland. It is one of the finest papermakers in the UK.

“Last night, although we were celebrating what we do, our minds were also on everyone at Paperlinx and Tullis Russell. We are genuinely upset for the people that worked there,” he added.

Some 40,000 copies of The Collection are now in the process of being sent out to GF Smith’s customer base.