THE ILLUSTRATED CHRISTMAS CRACKER.

UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.[Complete number line 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2.] FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp, clean,glossy laminated,colour photographic illustrated dw/dj,with white lettering; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.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.Bright, clean,unblemished,publisher's original,gilt-decorated (holly leaves) pale lemon/yellow cloth upper board with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate dark green endpapers.UK,slim 8vo HB+ dw/dj,1st edn,7-64pp [paginated] includes colour pictorial illus by Quentin Blake to every paginated page; plus (unpaginated) half-title+title pages,and an author introduction. For over thirty years,John Julius Norwich has been sending out his Christmas Crackers (3 to date - then 2002) - a personal collection of quirky quotes and literary odds and ends - to his friends instead of a Christmas card.Every decade,these have been collected into a best- selling anthology.Now Quentin Blake has made a selection of favourite pieces from Lord Norwich's commonplace book,and illustrated them in his own inimitable style.From curious dictionary definitions ('Carphology. Delirious fumbling with the bedclothes.Concise Oxford Dictionary) and tortuous palindromes ('Live dirt up a side-track carted is a putrid evil') to an 18thC piece by a farmer about his drunken pigs and Benjamin Franklin's account of inventing bifocals,this cracker is stuffed with surprising,offbeat,often hilarious gems.Enlivened by Quentin Blake's witty illustrations,'The Illustrated Christmas Cracker is the perfect stocking-filler for the connoisseur. John Julius Norwich is a leading writer,historian and broadcaster.He is the author of histories of Norman Sicily, Venice and Byzantium,as well as three best-selling collections of Christmas Crackers.He first collaborated with Quentin Blake on 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'.See also my book ID rja28047 for a very uncommon author (John Julius Norwich) SIGNED copy,UK HB+dw/dj,1st edn of same title. Quentin Blake,born 1932,Sidcup,Kent.Son of a civil servant.Educated at Chiselhurst,Sidcup Grammar School and Cambridge University.Attended life classes at Chelsea College of Art.Tutor in illustration at the Royal College of Art (1965-78) and Head of the Illustration Dept since 1978.He works in pen and ink and watercolour in a popular and unmistakable style,capturing essential character and movement with wit and gaiety in a few rapid strokes.He has illustrated many editions of the BBC Jackanory television programme.He was chosen as the first Children's Laureate in 1999. Since April 2013,and again in March 2015,and this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering its prices, weight allowances,dimensions and lowered its compensation rates too! So,please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the lighter weight and smaller size of this item,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!