Slightly Foxed

This is an illustrated satirical glossary of the language used by antiquarian booksellers in their catalogues. Searle defines terms of condition and rarity - foxed, shaken, unsophisticated, a little tired, and the rest - and supplies a cartoon for each, in which the phrase is taken literally or turned into a scene of decay, violence, or genteel disaster. Short prose notes explain how the trade uses the words. The book is a comic lexicon of the second-hand book world, not a manual for collectors and not a silent picture book.

Bound in off-white paper, printed and blocked with a wrap-around design by Ronald Searle. Frontispiece and 60 integrated colour illustrations. No slipcase or dust-jacket. Red endpapers.