Animal Land Where There Are No People – Sybil and Katharine Corbet
Animal Land Where There Are No People by Sybil and Katharine Corbet, introduction by Andrew Lang / ISBN 9781957625027 / 64-page paperback, 6 x 6 inches, printed in color / published in 2022 by 50 Watts Books. (Also available on Apple Books.)
Want to place a wholesale order? You can find most 50 Watts publications on Faire, and/or you can email will AT 50wattsbooks.com for a full list (I distribute a few books not on Faire).
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Animal Land — first published in Scotland in 1897 — was written by four-year-old Sybil Corbet and illustrated by her mother, Katharine. This 50 Watts edition gives a colorful twist to a delightfully odd and forgotten treasure. As Andrew Lang says in his introduction, “A professional wit would be in labor to create these animals and these words, which Sybil has only to open her eyes and see, to open her lips and utter. In the field of pure Nonsense this is genius.”
“Animal Land where there are no People is quite near, only you can’t see it. It is a kind of Garden Cage, with the North Pole and the sea always roughling and wavy. In the summer they like to be hotter and hotter, and in the winter colder and colder. They live by the North Pole and in the leafy places near. It is always light there, always day, they climb in the poles and always play. That is Animal Land.”–Sybil Corbet, as told to her mother
“With art reminiscent of Mervyn Peake and nonsense reminiscent of Edward Lear, this gorgeous, crazy Victorian bestiary is a reminder that the best taxonomies are written by kids.”–Carson Ellis
Andrew Lang (1844-1912) “was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales.” (More on wikipedia.)
More places to buy the book:
The Beguiling (Toronto)
Book Beat (Oak Park)
Book Thug Nation (Brooklyn)
Books with Pictures (Portland)
Brickbat Books (Philly)
Desert Island (Brooklyn)
Dog Eared Books (San Francisco)
East Bay Booksellers (Oakland)
Fenrick Books (Ridgewood)
Flutter (Portland)
Frobergue (Tokyo)
Gosh Comics (London)
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Kinokuniya Los Angeles
Metropolis Bookshop (Melbourne)
MOCA Store (Los Angeles)
Omoi Zakka (Philly)
Paper Nautilus (Providence)
Partners and Son (Philly)
Phinney Books (Seattle)
Point Reyes Books
Revolutions Bookshop (Portland)
A Room of One’s Own (Madison)
Skylight Books (Los Angeles)
Small Friend Records and Books (Richmond)
Spectator Books (Oakland)
Topos Books (Ridgewood)
Verbatim Books (San Diego)
Wig Shop Web Shop (Denver/online)
Wholesale orders, email will AT 50wattsbooks.com for a discount code / Download the cover at 300dpi
Librarians: I would love to sell you this book! Please let me know if you have special ordering requirements. Email will AT 50wattsbooks.com
