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METEYARD, PETER: : Stanley the tale of the Lizard

LONDON.ANDRE DEUTSCH,1979.

ISBN 0233970711.

UK,slim rectangular Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn. NFINE/NFINE.No owner inscrptn,no price- clip to dw/dj.Pictorial colour illustrated dw/dj - design repeated to laminated boards,with clean,plain white endpapers - with minimal shelf-wear,creasing to edges but no nicks or tears.Light,child-like indentations (where some-one has been drawing and used the book as support under the drawing paper) in lower third area of dw/dj down to the laminated boards also. Front,upper top 1/3rd dw/dj,also lightly aged/darkened.Top+fore-edge clean; contents bright,tight and near pristine. Rectangular Qrto (approx 10" tall x 8.50" wide)HB+dw/dj,1st edn, 32pp [unpaginated] includes 2-colour block illustrated half-title,a coloured illustrated title page and alternating 2 page illustrations thereafter [2-colour block then multi-colour block].Text is in verse. Lizards are now tiny,but in King Arthur's time There were big ones they called dragons,and told about in rhyme. This is the tale of a gentle Knight and a girl with gleaming hair,and how he was helped to win her hand by a dragon in his lair.Sir Lance-a-Little was a knight so insignificant that no one ever took any notice of him - except when he did something silly.But quite unexpectedly the opportunity to rescue a fair maiden from the grasp of the wicked black knight came to him.Stanley (a dragon as gentle as Lance-a-Little was timid) helped him. Together they saved the maiden - and they lived happily together ever after - all three of them.Peter Firmin has illustrated this lively 'Arthurian' ballad in splendid medieval style,and with a humour that is just right for the gentle fun the author pokes at the world of the tourney,the Knight and the gentle maiden. Peter Firmin,born Harwich,Essex 1928. Studied illustration at Colchester School of Art(1947-47) and,after National Service in the Royal Navy,graphic design and book production at the Central School(1949-52), where he studied lino and wood cutting under Gertrude Hermes.He began working freelance as a magazine illustrator while employed as a glass-cutter and painter in a stained glass studio(1953-55) and as a general artist in an advertising studio (1955-57),contributing some of the first illustrations to the New Scientist. He has collaborated with writer Oliver Postgate since 1958,initially on 'cutprice cardboard cartoons' and then on animated puppet and cartoon films for television; among their creations have been The Clangers, Alexander the Mouse, Noggin the Nog, Bagpuss and Ivor the Engine,all of which have later re-appeared in books. Firmin also made the puppet 'Basil Brush' for television, and wrote the subsequent series of Basil Brush stories (published by Kay & Ward).He has also invented a new character (then 1983),Bramwell the rat, for a series of books in the form of the rat's diaries,the first of which is The Winter Diary.For book illustration,he usually works in pen and ink,often with colour washes,using realistic detail to give conviction to unlikely fantastic situations.As a collector of 19thC illustrated books,he feels that he has been influenced (in particular) by the works of the Cruikshanks,Jean Grandville, and James Gillray.Among 20thC illustrators,he admires the work of W. Heath Robinson and James Boswell. Please contact seller,because of the lighter weight and the value of this item, for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!

UK,Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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