AKLC Archives - Duckworth Books

The British

A fondness for laughing at our own anecdotes. An assertion of the importance of tea. A weakness for oak beams. A keen interest in the weather. A tendency to ‘become doggy’. The British haven’t changed much since the 1930s, when Pont’s first witty and hilarious observations on the national character appeared in Punch magazine.

Pont’s plump rolling-pin wielding cooks and solar-topee’d imperialists capture a distinct moment in British inter-war history, but his observations of character are timeless. In the nursery, at the opera, or in the bath, in tweed or tennis whites or bowler hat, Pont conjures distinct, complete personalities with a few strokes of his pen.

Charming, idiosyncratic and – above all – wonderfully funny, this unforgettable collection will bring Pont’s extraordinary talent to a new generation of fans.

Britain At Play

In Britain at Play we collect the finest of William Heath Robinson’s studies of the unique British character. Here we find Britain in the garden, at the beach and on the golf course – the 9th hole played with the grim reaper, rotating sunbathing machines, a double cross tennis match ‘For economising space in local tournaments and generally gingering up the game’. Heath Robinson perfectly captures the peculiar character of the great British nation at leisure.

Contraptions

A timely new edition featuring the brilliant work from among the most inventive minds in illustration and cartoon wizardry.

Heath Robinson was one of Britain’s most successful graphic artists. His work has had a huge influence on comic art in this country, but also on the image and self-image of the British.

As the champion of pragmatic man, Heath Robinson presented a vision of the British as an unflappable, ingenious and slightly demented breed of inventors that persists to the present day. The British are still a nation of garage-haunting amateur engineers who will recognise the inhabitants of Heath Robinson’s world, with their pot bellies and pots of tea, archaic faces and sturdily commonsensical approach to the problems of existence.

How to hunt tigers by elephant, how to get an even tan, rise with the sun or put out a chimney fire, these and many more pressing questions are answered in the pages of Contraptions.

With illustrations salvaged from the family archives and commentary by Heath Robinson expert, Geoffrey Beare, Contraptions is the best possible introduction to the work of one of Britain’s great comic talents.

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