mammybearsbooks Blog Kit_Williams 20191101

Mammy Bears Books 1 November 2019 · A wonderful artist whose work I find quite fascinating is Christopher "Kit" Williams born 28 April 1946 an English artist, illustrator and author. Best known for his 1979 book 'Masquerade' a pictorial storybook which contains clues to the location of a golden as in 18 carat gold, jewelled hare created by Williams and then buried "somewhere in Britain". He also wrote the puzzle book 'Bee on the Comb', which is my personal favourite. The original First Edition, First Printing was published without a title, with the result that this book is also known as "The Bee Book" along with variations on that theme. The discovery of the true title was the puzzle associated with this book. Readers were challenged to discover the book's true title and send this to the author - expressed non-verbally. The prize - a golden bee statuette along with a marquetry box containing the only titled copy of the book - would go to the entrant whom Kit Williams decided had expressed the title in the most creative way. The contest ran for a year and a day from the original publication date and ended on May 25th 1985. The winner was Steve Pearce from Leicester in the UK, who submitted a blue cabinet with a cuckoo- clock- like solution which is pictured on the second editions dust jacket back, along with the title on the dust jacket front, together with the solution to the puzzle printed on the inside of the dust jacket. The book story tells ofa day in the life of a beekeeper called Ambrose and how he and his bees are affected by personifications of the four seasons. Other publications are 'Out of One Eye: The Art of Kit Williams', 1986 and 'Engines of Ingenuity', 2001. He also created three fabulous clocks with elaborate mechanisms and moving parts, such as animals, for visual interest. His work is quite fantastic and I would recommend his books as they are visually stunning and very very interesting.