The Weathercock on Salisbury Cathedral Spire

Wraps, staple bound. Cloth folder. Very Good. Highly original, comical anthropormphic illustrations of an accident-prone rooster. N.d., circa 1930s. Oblong, 21 by 28.5 cm. Unpaginated, 32 pp, including cover. The story line is loose, even disjointed, with each page representing a separate incident or story line. Tidbits of satire pervade the work, directed here at the clergy, there at sots. Some of the humor contained in the captions is obscure, but the visual humor never slackens, and whatever the merits of the overall narrative, however, the watercolors are irresistible, and while anthropomorphism is a commonplace in juvenilia, these renderings somehow stand apart as not being derivative. The artist also filled out the illustrations with town streets, buildings, landscapes and various objects that are just right -- realistic yet not fussily literal. His was a confident hand that with seeming ease created pictures with real panache and style. The dating is a bit tricky. There are numerous references, visual and textual, to the military, and there are World War One era planes. But there are also some later aircraft, and in one illustration, a soman is wearing a dress that is unquestionably of the thirties. With custom made cloth folder, leather title label on front board, to house the manuscript.