1943-1978 A Collection of Illustrated Volumes from Sir Osbert Lancaster

Description

Colour Plates, First Edition, Illustrated, Original Binding, Publishers' Original Binding, With Dustwrapper

Nine volumes. Illustrated throughout. With two double-page colour scenes to The Saracen's Head, eight colour plates to Classical Landscapes with Figures, and eight colour plates to Sailing to Byzantium. Collated complete. Written and illustrated by Sir Osbert Lancaster, an English cartoonist, architectural historian, stage designer and author. He is best remembered for his cartoons in the British press and his lifelong work to inform the general public about architectural heritage. Between 1939 and his retirement in 1981, he drew almost ten thousand "pocket cartoons", making him a nationally known figure. He developed a cast of regular characters, led by Maudie Littlehampton, through whom he expressed his views on the fashions, fads and political events of the day. This set contains: Pillar to Post: English Architecture Without Tears, 1943. Sixth printing. Presenting a sweep or architectural styles from Stonehenge to the By-Pass rustic, opening our eyes to the heritage and horror of buildings that we see without appreciating. The Saracen's Head, or The Reluctant Crusader, 1948. First edition. Lancaster has conjured up a hero, William de Littlehampton, not of the appearance nor of the stuff of classic heroes. But he will overcome the tremendous and surprising odds pitted against him. Facades and Faces, 1950. First edition. Portraying affectionate scenes familiar to travellers abroad from Ireland to Italy and New York, with faces familiar to those at home and the foibles of the inexperienced tourist. Here, of All Places, 1960. Reader's Union edition, very scarce. A revised and expanded omnibus version of Pillar to Post and Homes Sweet Homes, this engaging architectural history offers a survey of American architecture from the earliest times until the 1950s. Signs of the Times, 1961. Second impression. To celebrate twenty-one years as a popular cartoonist, this panorama of pocket cartoons gives the full sweep of Lancaster's wit and vivid retrospective view. Classical Landscape with Figures, 1962. Fourth impression. An attempt to present a picture of Greece as it appears today, being a collection of topographical scenes for the would-be traveller. Sailing to Byzantium: An Architectural Companion, 1969. First edition. A summary of the development of Byzantine architecture against its historical background, with descriptions of the accessible remaining examples of it. The Pleasure Garden: An Illustrated History of British Gardening, 1977. First edition. A lucid and entertaining survey of the development of gardens, their design, their plants, and their gardeners, from Roman times to the present day. Written in collaboration with his wife, Anne Eleanor Scott-James, Lady Lancaster, a British journalist and author who was one of Britain's first female career journalists, editors and columnists. Scene Changes, 1978. First edition. An informative and invigorating collection of scenes showing the changes that the years of "progress" have brought to the Great Houses of fiction since they were created by their authors.