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Up the Boo Aye, Mike Harding 1980 b/w & colour illustrated 228mm x 152mm Soft covers First publication Distributed by New English Library 64pp ISBN 0 86130 059 9 |
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The Rochdale Cowboy rode up Deansgate one day and gave us this rich cornucopia of
a book. Dusting off his chaps he explained that his regular publishers
had ducked the cost of printing Up the Boo Aye in full colour. For us, artist Rodger McPhail was the deciding factor: he is quite brilliant, almost the equal
of Ken Reid. Savoy intended to publish the follow-up book, The Thief of the World, which contains more top-notch artwork by McPhail, but a disagreement
between the duo stopped publication. What a team they were! Whatever
happened to Rodger McPhail?
• A few copies of this title are still available. See the Orders page for purchase details. |
"A delightful gallery of inspired lunacy set firmly in the classic
tradition of Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll... A macabre surrealism
pervades much of this work."
FANTASY MEDIA
"Popular comedian Mike Harding here offers a delightful gallery of inspired lunacy set firmly in the classic tradition of Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll. A bunch of nonsense poems that will raise many a titter and shudder. The book contains twenty-one poems of varying lengths and scope from the near haiku Hippoportant Poem,
to the epic title piece, so titled in memory of the author's Aunty Guy ("Up the Boo Aye..." was her answer following the young Harding's constant "Where are you going?") There isas in Lear and Carrolla macabre surrealism that pervades much of this work especially such pieces as The Moon, The Grebs and Fingummy and these are generally the better pieces. However, The Idle Yellow Oozit which is far from macabre remains my favourite. McPhail's illustrations are in the main very appropriate, especially those in full colour, of which there are ten. However some of the black and white pieces seem to be almost the work of a different artist. Still the marriage of picture and poem works extremely well and the book is highly recommended." GORDON LARKIN |
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