The Bellmaker by Jacques, Brian - 1995

New York: Philomel. Very Good- in Very Good+ dust jacket. 1995. 7th Printing. Hardcover. 0399228055 . B&W Illustrations; SIGNED EDITION. This book is in Very Good- condition and has a Very Good dust jacket. The book and its contents are in generally clean, bright condition. The spine ends of the book covers have some light bumping. There are three spots of water spotting / fading to the spine of the book. The text pages are clean and bright This copy has been signed by the author on the half title page. The dust jacket has some light bumping and wear to the spine ends. "Redwall was an 800-page handwritten manuscript. It is now common for children's books to have 350 pages, and the Harry Potter books far exceed that, but in those days 200 was regarded as the maximum that would hold a child's attention. It set the tone for the whole series, centered on the triumph of good over evil, with peaceful mice, badgers, voles, hares, moles and squirrels defeating rats, weasels, ferrets, snakes and stoats. He did not shy away from the reality of battle, and many of the "good" creatures die. Redwall alludes to the surrounding human civilization, for example with a scene featuring a horse-drawn cart. But the subsequent books ignore humans completely, portraying an Iron Age society from the misty past building castles, bridges and ships to the scale of forest creatures, writing their own literature and drawing their own maps. Jacques was highly involved in the audio books of his work, even enlisting his sons and others to voice Redwall inhabitants. Jacques said that the characters in his stories are based on people he has encountered. He based Gonff, the self-proclaimed "Prince of Mousethieves", on himself when he was a young boy hanging around the docks of Liverpool." ; Signed by Author; Vol. 7 .