"A Book Of Wizards" - Ruth Manning-Sanders, Illustrated by Robin Jacques (Methuen Children's Books, London 1966)

"Once In A Lifetime" - Tomi Ungerer, part two

A very grim outlook of the world, outlining the fears of a nuclear conflict between the great powers - a very real prospect if you lived in the 80's. There are no winners in Ungerer's pictures - just a humorous and cynical depiction of human folly.

"Once In A Lifetime" - Tomi Ungerer, published by Jonathan Cape Ltd, London 1984

Tomi Ungerer's tribute to the madness and nightmares of nuclear warfare - at the time of publication of this book the relationship between the US and USSR was particularly disturbing, dangerous and depressing and some of the jokes were too close to reality.

The artist (born in Strasbourg in 1931) was of course legendary even then for his books and illustrations. His work ranged from children's books to controversial political satirical and erotic cartoons. For anyone not familiar with his work he has a huge catalogue of best-selling books displaying raw and often disturbing humor with limitless imagination and unique vision.

Here is the artist's own website for a full biography and updates: http://www.tomiungerer.com/

There is also a comprehensive publications list on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomi_Ungerer

"Adventures Of Jaboti In The Amazon", Illustrated by John Vernon Lord (1968) - part 3

Couldn't resist showing some more of Vernon Lord's intriguing and funny illustrations - the more you look at them the better they look. The top one is the back cover of the book.

And this is the record sleeve he produced that same year coincidentally for none other than Deep Purple (now that would be a nice LP to own though I imagine it would cost quite a lot). It's the band's second album - "The Book Of Taliesyn", 1968 - and they wouldn't have been so well known then, but what a masterful design. Classic 1960's craftsmanship and brilliant lettering!