I bought this beautiful book from Amazon on a friend's recommendation a week ago and was kind of dreading its arrival. I'd bought it from Amazon.com rather than .co.uk and had totally forgotten the added shipping costs when I pressed Buy, so hadn't quite got the bargain I thought I had. But when I unwrapped it on Saturday morning I was so thrilled, it was worth every penny.
It was written and illustrated by Jacqueline Ayer in 1962 and I got a first edition. It looked familiar in format to me, and when I held it next to my copy of Edward and the Horse I realised it was released by the same publisher just a year later! Don't you think the illustrations look so contemporary? I've been looking up other works by Ayer but they seem to be pretty rare, perhaps I snagged myself a bargain after all...
4 comments:
there's something really lovely about childrens book illustration -just lovely observations and your blog is a very happy find!
The book looks awesome- I am sure you got a good deal- I would love to have this to hug and to hold!
Annamaria :)
I love this book! I had it when I was young and it disappeared, can't find it anywhere, I might also try to get hold of a copy. great to see the images online :)
Olivia
I lived in Bangkok as a young child (very early '60s), and Jackie Ayer was my mother's friend. I too grew up with this book, and when my mother died we found it in her stuff but had to throw it out because it was just in tatters from being read so much. Today I purchased it on Ebay, and I hope it comes in good condition. Some other things about Jackie Ayer, and I can't attest 100% for their vaildity, but I'm pretty sure: she was the designer for Design Thai; before that, she worked for Jim Thompson, the inscrutable and mysterious silk magnate who disappeared one day in Thailand, never to be found again; she illustrated many children's books, including one by Eleanor Estes; I believe she still lives in London; when my mother died, she sent over a bamboo plant (delivered by Sandy Harner) and if by any chance she's reading this, I thank her; she was an amazing painter, too, and my sister and I each own one of her paintings, inherited from our mother.
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