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SIMMONDS**, POSY: : FRED

LONDON.JONATHAN CAPE,1987.

ISBN 0224024485.

UK,slim Qrto HB,no dw/dj - as issued,1st edn. FINE+.No owner inscrptn and no price removal. Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,wrap-around navy blue background with blue+white lined border-edged caricature cat portrait to front board with capitalised white lettered title and capitalised pink lettered author's name to front board,white capitalised lettered title+author+ publisher's colophon,rear board with white+blue line bordered white panel with a cat caricature coloured illustration within and white lettered prose story extract,immaculate,repeated grey endpapers with cat's black meandering paw prints across both the endpapers.Negligible shelf-wear, bumping,creasing to edges and corners - no nicks,tears or splits present - unusually,boards virtually scoring/indent-free.Top+fore-edges bright and clean without blemish; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips - appears unread,other than my own collation.UK,slim Qrto HB,no dw/dj - as issued, 1st edn, 22pp [unpaginated and excluding both free endpapers] includes blank verso and blank recto to front+rear free endpapers respectively, colour vignette illustrated half-title with dedication to verso,colour vignette illustrated title page,and colour comic strip with speech bubbles formatted story,also with 3 full-page, full-colour illustrations - all by Posy Simmonds. A highly collected and prolific children's book illustrator,and an unusual item/ephemera in Posy's bold style and will be an important and welcome addition to the Simmonds canon. Visually the exterior appearance is exceptional for a book of it's age and nature, i.e a child's book,and even internally,the book is also in an exceptional condition/state of preservation and presentation.It really is an exceptional copy for brightness and cleanliness. Everyone in the neighbourhood was terribly sad to hear from Nick and Sophie that their cat Fred had died.His dozing figure was a familiar sight to them all - in so many spots (on walls,cars, dustbins) did he take his naps.In fact Nick had to admit he was probably the laziest cat in the world,though it wouldn't do to mention this fact on Fred's final resting-place,underneath the buddleia,near the graves of guinea-pig and beetle.Fred was very dear,if idle,and deserved a proper send-off. Then late at night,after theor mother had tucked them up in bed and they had all said 'Poor Fred',Sophie and Nick were awakened by a curious 'MEEEYOW'.Something baffling was about to begin in the garden which will amaze even the most experienced catwatcher.Who really knows what goes on beyond those closed cat-flaps? At last Fred's secret is out of the bag. The delights of Posy Simmonds,well-known to countless followers of her Guardian column and books,can now be discovered by a younger audience as well.'FRED' is a magnificent departure,a wonderfulluy endearing creation. Rosemary Elizabeth "Posy" Simmonds (b 9/8/1945) is a British newspaper cartoonist and writer and illustrator of children's books.Born in Berkshire and educated at a boarding school,the Sorbonne and studied at the Central School of Art & Design,London.She is best known for her long association with The Guardian,for which she now draws a cartoon titled Tamara Drewe.She started her newspaper career drawing a strip for The Sun in 1969 before joining The Guardian as an illustrator in 1972.In 1979 she started drawing a weekly comic strip for The Guardian, initially titled 'The Silent Three of St. Botolph's' as a tribute to the 1950's strip,'The Silent Three' by Evelyn Flinders.The strip focused on three 1950's schoolfriends in their later, middle-class and nearly middle-aged lives: Wendy Weber,a former nurse married to polytechnic sociology lecturer George with a large brood of children; Jo Heep,married to whisky salesman Edmund with two rebellious teenagers; and Trish Wright,married to philandering advertising executive Stanhope with a young baby.The strip,which was latterly untitled and usually known just as "Posy",ran until the late 1980's.It was collected into a number of books: 'Mrs Weber's Diary','Pick of Posy','Very Posy' and 'Pure Posy',and one original cartoon book featuring the same characters,'True Love'. Her later cartoons for The Guardian and The Spectator were collected as 'Mustn't Grumble',in 1992. Posy Simmonds' first graphic novel,'Gemma Bovery' was acclaimed by the critics for its wit and wickedly sharp observation. A.N. Wilson called it 'a work of genius' and more than one reviewer suggested that it should be entered for the Booker prize. She is also the author of many books for adults and children - see also rja24337,rja27787, rja465313 and rja511215 (the last 2 numbers are duplicate copies of same title) respectively - including 'Literary Life','Lulu and the Flying Babies' and 'Fred',the film of which was nominated for an Oscar.She has contributed a series of weekly cartoon strips to the 'Guardian' newspaper since 1977,and has won international awards for her work. Please contact seller,because of the lighter weight of this item,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.

UK,Qrto HB,no dw/dj - as issued,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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