Currently reading.....

     This arrived in the post yesterday.  The final instalment of Anthony Powell's great, patrician novel sequence 'A Dance to the Music of Time'.  I've been reading them on and off for years with varying levels of enthusiasm.  The first three novels in particular are slow going.  Things, however, pick up with 'At Lady Mollys'.  I am currently reading the penultimate novel 'Temporary Gods', set in Venice and London. 

     A quick word about the front covers.  'A Dance to the Music of Time' has had various cover designs in its time.  However, two series stand out.  The first is that designed by Osbert Lancaster (1908-1986) for Penguin in the 1960s.  Lancaster, writer, illustrator, cartoonist, and designer for the stage, was a friend of Powell and the 2nd novel in the sequence, 'A Buyer's Market', is dedicated to Lancaster and his first wife Karen.  His austere pen and ink drawings give a good sense of 'British Mid-century Frugal'. A feeling of anomie pervades.
     Later editions such as this - the Fontana Books edition of 1977 - are the work of Mark Boxer (1931-1988) the magazine editor, illustrator, and cartoonist.  Whereas Lancaster provides the locations, Boxer provides the characters in the form of cartoons.  Vigorous, characterful and enviably confident.  As you can see above.