Sunny Spells

Sempé, Jean-Jacques

ISBN 10: 0714845442 / ISBN 13: 9780714845449

Published by Phaidon Press, 2006

About this Item

Very Good condition. Very Good dust jacket. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp. Seller Inventory # V16K-00575

Bibliographic Details

Title: Sunny Spells

Publisher: Phaidon Press

Publication Date: 2006

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis:

Jean-Jacques Sempe's witty drawings and keen eye for the finer points of the human condition have delighted readers in France and beyond for over forty years. Now, his sharply observed and beautifully drawn cartoons are available in English for the first time.
In 'Sunny Spells', originally published in France in 1999, Sempe explores a wide range of topics, from troubled relationships and office politics to doping scandals in the literary world. His cast of characters includes pious churchgoers, amateur painters and lovelorn palaeontologists, as well as psychiatrists, actors and football fans. Many of Sempe's intricate and evocative illustrations are accompanied by laconic, perfectly judged captions, which were translated by Anthea Bell, who also helped to bring Asterix the Gaul to the English-speaking world.

About the Author:

Jean-Jacques Sempé (b. 1932) is one of the most successful cartoonists and illustrators in the world, and still regularly contributes to magazines such as THE NEW YORKER and PARIS MATCH. Born in Bordeaux, Sempé was expelled from school for bad behavior. He enjoyed a variety of jobs, from traveling toothpaste salesman to summer camp worker, before winning an art prize in 1952. Although Sempé was never formally trained as an artist, more than twenty volumes of his drawings have been published, in thirty countries. Sempé also enjoys iconic status with generations of children (and adults) around the world, thanks to his collaboration with writer Rene Goscinny on a classic series of books about a little schoolboy called Nicholas. Phaidon Press published NICHOLAS (Hardback, 2005) to great acclaim last year. Sempé currently resides in France.

Anthea Bell (who with Derek Hockridge, also translated the entire ASTERIX THE GAUL saga comics) translated NICHOLAS into English from the original French. The recipient of a number of translation prizes and awards, among the first Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation for Christine Nöstlinger's A DOG'S LIFE (Andersen Press). Bell was selected as the recipient of the 2002 Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize for her exceptional translation of W.G. Sebald's novel AUSTERLITZ, published Random House. She recently translated the popular books, DRAGON RIDER (2004) and INKHEART (2003), both from Scholastic. Bell currently resides in England.