My Life As A Scribe

Edinburgh, UK: Canongate, 1988. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 6.5" x 9.5. H/B 183 pages, condition is very good. GEORGE THOMSON has written and illustrated several books over the years including New Better Handwriting, Traditional Scottish Recipes, Rubber Stamps and How To Make Them and Christmas Recipes. These have helped to establish him as one of Britain's most respected calligraphers. He was born during the First World War. The story of how he overcame his inherited problem of dwarfism and enjoyed a happy and colourful childhood is told with irresistible charm. When he was only sixteen he won a coveted place at Edinburgh College of Art where he studied calligraphy under the renowned Irene Wellington. He graduated with distinction, and won a travelling scholarship, immediately bought a bicycle and set off for Europe. On the eve of World War II he found himself in Germany and his hasty retreat is told in his characteristic, self-effacing style. From this point on, his life became a series of triumphs, frustrations and near-disasters. He taught, became a virtual hermit and his work was published; he travelled to America and gained friends and admirers the world over. He now lives in a little cottage, surrounded in cheerful disarray by beautiful artifacts of his own creation: calligraphic masterpieces and hand-carved rubber stamps of rare ingenuity. The life of this wise and talented man now courageously fighting crippling arthritis will inspire and delight all those who read it.