Lady Filmy Fern or The Voyage of the Window Box by Thomas Hennell.

Title: Lady Filmy Fern or The Voyage of the Window Box.
Author: Thomas Hennell.
Publisher: Hamish Hamilton: London. 
Published Date: First edition 1980
Illustrated: by Edward Bawden.
Pagination: No page numbers
External Size: 28cm x 21.5cm
Condition: Very good in very good dust jacket. 
 
This lovely book 'follows the strange story of the retiring social beauty, Lady Filmy Fern, her devoted companion, the carpenter Mr Virgin Cork, and the photographer known as the Welsh Polypod. Their adventures, and those of a supporting cast, which included a seagull, a cat and some intrepid aviators. were bizarre, surreal and enchanting.' It is interested to note that at the outbreak of the Second World War, Bawden (the illustrator) hid the scrapbook with both text and pictures of this book in a waterproof covering, at the bottom of his well, only to be found after the retreat of Germany. In the meantime, Thomas Hennell was killed in Indonesia in 1945, and it was not until 1980 that the book was officially published, with more illustrations.
 
Blue pictorial boards to match the dust jacket. The boards are in very good condition with minimal signs of wear. Ink inscription to the front free endpaper. Contents pristine throughout. Complete with clipped dust jacket which is also in very good condition, having only minor wear to the edges.