Friday, August 14

bookshelf -the quangle wangle's hat

The Quangle Wangle's Hat is much better known in Britain but no reason it won't work in the States too. A semi-nonsense rhyme by Victorian poet Edward Lear (pub. 1877) in a similar vein to his Owl and The Pussycat, the book follows a motley parade of creatures as they head to the QW's tree to all live in his hat. The enlightened enthusiast* Marco Graziosi has created a website with all the Leariana you can handle. The artwork on the Greenway Medal winning 1969 edition as above is done by Helen Oxenbury (perhaps more recognizable to some as the illustrator of the Tom and Pippo books??) Just realised she is married to John Burningham, one of our other favourite children's authors/illustrators (e.g. Mr. Gumpy/Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). Their are recent editions of Quangle, but cheeeesy. Stay away. Ebay.co.uk has a 1969 copy now.

Read the 19thC version now via GoogleBooks.



Always loved this corkscrew legged guy...


*enlightened enthusiast or ee, a fantastic expression coined by my former tutor Alan Smith for a person knowledgeable on a particular subject. An informal source that you can reference reliably.