This publication is not as well known as JVL's major illustrative campaigns (The Giant Jam Sandwich, Aesop's Fables, Lear's Limericks) yet it has in many respects many of the graphic characteristics we associate wwith him. There is a strong love of pattern and hatching (see lecture). The detail is precise, inventive and always harnessed to the overall effect of the page design. Strong armatures hold his compositions together, and the page turning always presents surprises and changes of attack. Several of his figures seem to be portraits of friends. Should he see this tribute to his art, he will be delighted by the name of the previous owner, and commiserate with how much I paid to buy the pamphlet from Holleyman and Treacher in 1993.

 

MISERABLE AUNT BERTHA, a selection

LECTURES and the Giant Jam Sandwich