Serendipitously Sasek

Morning. How're you doing?

Did a noisy bird wake you up at 5am this morning, leading you to give up trying to sleep, picking up a book then falling back to sleep skilfully balancing a 650 page novel on your chest without dropping it once?

No? Just me then.

Do you remember in this post last month I mentioned that I'd picked up some fabulous books in a second-hand shop and was planning to share them with you? Well, in light of a strange coincidence this week I've chosen this one to share with you first:
When I spotted M.Sasek's 'This is Historic Britain' on the shelf of an average charity shop book section, I just had to have it. It really took me back in time and while I don't specifically remember reading it as a child, its 1974 original illustrations were thoroughly familiar. And for the princely some of one whole English pound there was no reason not to buy it.
So I bought my beautifully illustrated children's book, which, as I say, was new to me [as an adult at least], then I brought it home, read it and photographed it. Now for the coincidental bit ...

... while I knew that Kirsty [Neale] had been busy planning a 'Children's Illustrators' mini-series of posts for The Copy + Paste Project we'd not discussed which authors she was covering. Then, in the draft posts section of the blog whose name should I spot in the title of one of her posts? A name I wouldn't even have recognised if his book hadn't found me?

Exactly! M.Sasek! Spooky. Sort of. OK, maybe not that spooky - but a nice bit of synchronicity none the less!

Here's a glimpse inside my £1 gem of an illustrated historic Britain, complete with Shakespeare's birth place:

... some very sweet London traffic:Oxford University and the Bodleian Library [this one's for you H!]:

And here's Carlisle Castle, for you Hannah:

Somewhere very close to James's heart, Lincoln Cathedral:

And something North of the border, Edinburgh Castle ... with more cute cars:

There's even a final treat hiding under the cover flap at the back:
And in case historic Britain isn't your thing fear not! Sasek illustrated a complete series:
Make sure you pop over to Kirsty's post on Sasek - here - and check out the other illustrators Kirsty has been bringing to our attention through the mini-series, there's a list of her posts so far in the Copy + Paste sidebar.

And if you want to see even more from Sasek then treat yourself to a tour around the website dedicated to the man and his wonderful works - here.

We've already heard from the lovely Alexa from Trimming the Sails who, after reading Kirsty's Sasek post has practically begun buying up the entire stock of them to give as gifts!

So if you've got any M.Sasek books gracing your shelves, or gracing a box in your attic, or somewhere in the back of your mind or even your heart ... I'd love to hear about it.

I just bet there's more Sasek serendipity out there!

Julie :)