AHA.**

UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/FINE.Neat,ink gift presentation inscrptn to illustrated ffe,price-clip to one dw/dj inner flap,other unclipped.Bright,crisp,clean, glossy laminated colour illustrated+ lettered design by Rex Whistler dw/dj; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present. Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight and near pristine.Bright,clean,publisher's original,pink cloth boards with bright,crisp,stamped pink gilt caricature face vignetted boards front+rear,with sharp corners and cream illustrated/vignetted eps.UK,slim 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,48pp [unpaginated] includes 2 title-pages,25 b/w portrait caricatures (which can be viewed two ways - upright and upside down) all illus by Rex Whistler and text/verses by his brother,Laurence Whistler. Here is a book with two fronts,two backs,two introductions and two ways of being opened.It is a portrait gallery of 'characters',and you will find there are two ways of looking at each one. Rex Whistler drew them: his brother Laurence wrote their stories in verse. Although creatures of another age,they live on.Recently,more of his reversible faces have come to light - and now these have been given verses too. Here they all are for the first time together. However you put this book down it will lie face up,which is to say face down.And upside down is how it can never be slipped into a bookshelf. Rex Whistler practised surely the most economical method of portraiture ever devised.He made one set of features do for two characters - often characters with very little in common,like Henry VIII and poor Anne of Cleves. It may not have been economical of effort: he had to keep turning the page round and round. However,the reader has only to turn it round once to get both likenesses.His brother Laurence wrote the verses when some of them came out in book form,thirty years ago.Others have since come to light - chiefly drawn for children - and these now have their verses too.Warning: you may lose your sense of direction in this gallery. Reginald John Whistler(1905-1944).Worked as Rex Whistler.Born at Eltham,Kent, elder brother of glass engraver Laurence Whistler .His gifts were evident early; he studied for a year at the Royal Academy Schools,then moved to the Slade School of Fine Art (1922-26),where Professor Tonks admired and encouraged his work.After some small commissions,his chance came in 1926 when he was invited to design and paint mural decorations in the Tate Gallery Refreshment Room.'The Pursuit of Rare Meats',a lively Rococo architectural fantasy (inspired by the Temple Gardens of Stowe and Wilton),epitomises the style he was to make his own. Their success brought work and social popularity,and he became a prolific illustrator and designer.His most important book is 'Gulliver's Travels' Cresset Press,1935), illustrated with full plates, maps and head and tail pieces in fine pen and ink with colour washes on the larger plates applied by hand.The full-page illustrations have elaborate Baroque borders,at times almost overwhelming the inset drawings.The effect is superb,and Whistler's 'Gulliver' remains one of the great illustrated books of the 20thC.Other notable works include the much acclaimed 'New Forget-Me-Not' (1929) and 'Fairy Tales' (1935).All his work reflects his own personal charm and lively wit.As well as being one of the outstanding illustrators of his generation,Whistler promised to be a great and original stage designer; his work for ballet,plays and opera included The Rake's Progress,Laurence Housman's Victoria Regina, Fidelio and The Marriage of Figaro.In 1940,he volunteered for the Welsh Guards; he was killed on active service in 1944. Please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the lighter weight of this item,for correct,shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!