Flex Mentallo

Milan Kundera, in a 2007 article in The New Yorker, commenting on a list of the most notable works of French literature, noted that Rabelais was placed behind Charles de Gaulle's war memoirs, "Yet in the eyes of nearly every great novelist of our time he is, along with Cervantes, the founder of an entire art, the art of the novel."

As everyone probably knows, [even if they have not read him], François Rabelais was a French Renaissance writer of fantasy, satire and the grotesque, who is now considered one of the founders of modern European writing. He wrote in a time when the French language had barely been codified and as such had a profound influence in shaping it.

The Folio Society limited edition of Rabelais 'Gargantua and Pantagruel' may have been the highlight of the year, given that it also integrates the astonishing illustrations of Gustav Doré for the first time. I love Dore and these illustrations may be his masterpiece. [More on him later perhaps.] The books are enormous, and magnificently produced.

Gargantua and Pantagruel François Rabelais Illustrated by Gustave Doré Introduced by Stephen Greenblatt Translated by Professor M. A. Screech Limited to 500 hand-numbered sets Essay by Milan Kundera

Worse, he followed me out.

That's more like it.

Close -1991. I'm sure he remembers.

Fragrant

I shared an elevator with him once.

One might call it the ultimate Krazy Kat publication...

..and then along came Taschen, in May 2019, to publish George Herriman's "Krazy Kat". The Complete Color Sundays 1935-1944. It measures 35.6 x 8.9 x 50.8 cm and is in full color. So of course, I had no choice but to buy it!

Although much smaller in size than the actual strips, the mere fact they existed delighted me. And I already owned the Sunday Press huge, full color, 'Krazy Kat: A Celebration of Sundays'

KRAZY & IGNATZ: THE COMPLETE SUNDAY STRIPS 1935-1944

KRAZY & IGNATZ: THE COMPLETE SUNDAY STRIPS 1925-1934

KRAZY & IGNATZ: THE COMPLETE SUNDAY STRIPS 1916-1924

Who does not love Krazy Kat? I've owned various books over the years but none quite measuring up until I learned that Fantagraphics had published the entire oeuvre in three wonderful volumes. They were by then long out of print and as happens with OOP books were monstrously expensive - at least, the first one was available, but the second and third volumes were nowhere to be found. Dead listings on Amazon quoted them at over $2000 apiece. Suffice to say, after many months of fruitless searching, I eventually got lucky when they popped up on Ebay. Not cheap, but only a fraction of what I feared. Needless to say, I was overjoyed, since KK is eternally fascinating, and, one might say, at the very epicentre of my current interests. Short of owning original artwork [calling Bangzoom!], these would be the pinnacle...

Now that's what I call a palate cleanser!

Better than me, probably.

Some Yoshi toshi prints for sale here

I can well understand, Steve. But once you get bit...I'm content to stick with the books! More books on Japanese Woodblocks to come later. Meanwhile, while speaking of Yoshi toshi, in his early career, he sought to make a name for himself with editions of prints featuring ultra violent content, the so-called 'bloody prints' which is an aspect of Japanese culture still present today. These prints were a best-seller with each design illustrating a killing in cruel undisguised detail. During the printing process glue mixed with red pigment has been added that gives the blood on the prints a “thickened” realism. Interesting to compare with American atomic age horror comics, but published more than a hundred years earlier - in fact for decades Yoshi toshi was known only for these, and it is not until far later that his other, gentler series found renewed popularity. He is now considered the foremost uki-yoe artist of the late period. After him, it ended.

Hee hee