MAGNIFICENT ASSOCIATION COPY INSCRIBED TO SHIRLEY HUGHES
The Snowman
Hamish Hamilton, 1978.
First edition. 4to. Original laminated pictorial boards. Author's presentation copy, inscribed on the title page to fellow children's author and illustrator Shirley Hughes, "For SHIRL With Best Wishes from Raymond / Raymond Briggs". Together with a preliminary sketch by Hughes in pencil and watercolour and four leaves of autograph manuscript by Shirley Hughes. The story of the Snowman is told entirely with colour illustrations by Briggs without any text. The sketch by Hughes in pencil and watercolour, of the Snowman and a little boy (though looking very much like Alfie) in preparation for a watercolour Hughes created for an exhibition of 2018. A fine copy, with just the slightest bumping to spine ends. The drawing and manuscript in excellent condition.
An exceptional association copy of the first appearance of Briggs's most famous work, linking to of the foremost modern author-illustrators. They were strict contemporaries, having long careers both as illustrators and then as authors in their own right. In an interview in 2010, Hughes remarked that she had known Briggs "for years" and had read The Snowman to her children. They both died within six months of one another in 2022.
Hughes's manuscript piece on Briggs, in which she shows a tremendous respect for his work, appears to be unpublished and is possibly for a short speech in connection with the 2018 Snowman exhibition, where a number of prominent illustrators including Hughes and Quentin Blake, created their own versions of The Snowman. "Raymond Briggs is a master draughtsman," she writes, "one of the finest graphic storytellers of his generation."
Stock ID: 46532
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