THE DIARY OF A NOBODY.

UK,slim Qrto HB,1st edn.FINE.No owner inscrptn and no dw/dj - as issued.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered publisher's quarter (spine/ backstrip and triangular corners) navy blue faux leatherette/rexine and paper-covered blue+red colour marbled-effect boards,minus it's paste-on colour illustrated title plate on front cover - leaving 'ghost' residue/ shadow of where it was originally mounted/pasted; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks,tears or bumping present.Bright,crisp,blocked gilt lettering and decoration to spine/ backstrip,gold coloured silk head+tailbands,a sewn-in gold coloured silk bookmark ribbon and immaculate navy blue endpapers: front+rear pastedown and rear free endpaper with a white,single-lined bordered panel; front endpaper with a facsimile b/w line illustrated bookplate illustration within the bordered panel.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners, appears unread - apart from my own collation.UK,8vo HB,no dw/dj - as issued,1st edn thus,15- 150pp [paginated] includes 24 (XXIII and Chapter The Last),12 full-colour,full page caricature illustrations after the style of 'SPY' interspersed throughout the text,34 colour part-page illustrations, chapter headpieces - all by Paul Hogarth also interspersed throughout the text,monochrome facsimile Victorian newspaper adverts reproductions also throughout the text; plus [unpaginated] half-title with precis and authors' potted biography,colour vignetted illustration by Philip Hood to title page,contents list/table with Paul Hogarth miniature colour vignette chapter head-pieces,an illustrations list/table,diarist's explanation for his diary and blank.recto last page with note on illustrators.
The diary is that of a man who acknowledges that he is not a "Somebody" - Charles Pooter of 'The Laurels',Brickfield Terrace, Holloway,a clerk in the city of London - and it chronicles in hilarious detail the everyday life of the lower middle class during the Great Victorian age. Paul Hogarth,b. 1917 Kendal,Cumbria,son of a master butcher and farmer.Studied at Manchester College of Art (1933-6) and at St Martin's School of Art,London (1938-40). Worked as assistant to James Boswell (New Zealand,1906-71) from 1946-8.Lecturer at the Central School of Arts and Crafts (1950-4),senior lecturer at Cambridge School of Art (1959-61),tutor at the Royal College of Art (1964-71) and a visiting lecturer there (1971-82). During the 1950's and 1960's,he worked mainly in charcoal or very soft pencil on high quality paper,but more recently much of his work has been in colour, and he has made lithographic prints,for which he is better known. Philip Hood was born in 1949 in Atherstone,Warwickshire.He trained at the London College of Printing and has combined the job of designer and illustrator on 'Punch' with a career as a book and magazine illustrator since 1974.The books he has illustrated include 'The Christmas Book','After Man', and 'How to Keep Dinosaurs'. His work has been exhibited with the Association of Illustrators. Please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,for correct, insured 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.