Buy this book on-line

YORKE, MALCOLM: : MERVYN PEAKE: My Eyes Mint Gold - A LIFE

LONDON.JOHN MURRAY (PUBLISHERS) LTD.,2000.

ISBN 0719557712.

UK,8vo HB+protected dw/dj,1st edn. FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,subject's colour self-portrait illustrated dw/dj panels with white lettering to front+spine; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges generally bright and clean each with a couple of faint smudges; contents bright,tight, clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,would appear unread - apart from my own collation. Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered - front lower corner excepted, minimally bumped,publisher's original plain black cloth boards with bright, crisp,blocked silver gilt letters to spine/ backstrip,and immaculate plain white endpapers. UK,8vo HB+protected dw/dj,1st edn,6-368pp [paginated] includes verso of contents list/ table,illustrations list/ table with acknowledgements (author+publishers') to verso,author's preface,acknowledgements (author+ publishers' again),20 chapters,16pp contemporary b/w auto+biographical photographs and subject's b/w illustrations all in 1 block,between pp160/1,Mervyn Peake b/w line illustrated chapter headpieces and profuse other b/w line illustrations throughout the text and the book, notes and an index; plus [unpaginated] b/w vignetted half-title,Mervyn Peake b/w illustrated border-edged title page,and recto of contents list/ table. A study written with the family's full co-operation,with access to letters, photographs and drawings never previously published. Mervyn Peake,painter,poet,illustrator,dramatist and creator of the 'Titus Groan' trilogy,was near to achieving cult status even before his early death in 1968.In both his life and his work Peake was an original - eccentric, unworldly,witty,widely popular,notably attractive to women,and also sturdily independent of the literary and artistic movements of his day. He was born in 1911 in revolutionary China, where his parents were missionaries,and he later drew on his exotic childhood and its often savage images in his adult creations.He was throughout life a bohemian,first as a student at the Royal Academy Schools and next living in an artists' colony on Sark - to which island he often returned when city life became too stressful or expensive.Teaching in London,he fell in love with one of his students,Maeve Gilmore,and they later married despite her family's opposition.It was to be a close and lasting relationship,lived among a circle of talented friends that included Graham Greene, Augustus John,Dylan Thomas and Walter de la Mare.When war came Peake was a miserable and incompetent soldier,though it was during this unhappy period that he began to write 'Titus Groan'.At the end of the war he was sent by a magazine editor to draw in Germany,where he visited Belsen immediately after its liberation - an experience that would profoundly affect his subsequent work. The BBC production of 'Gormenghast' and re-publication of many of Peake's books have once more drawn attention to the extraordinary fascination of his world. Malcolm Yorke's biography,charts a life often overshadowed by mental strain and worry,yet always,until its tragic end, relieved by Peake's quirky humour and ceaseless creativity. Malcolm Yorke has written biographies of Eric Gill,Keith Vaughan and Matthew Smith. He is also a painter and a writer of children's books. Please contact seller,because of the weight/ value of this item for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.

UK,8vo HB+protected dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

Bibliophile Bookbase for antiquarian books, maps and prints.