The Bento Bestiary - Signed

Great amusing graphics by this British illustrator. About the book: In the 18th Century, Japanese artist Toriyama Sekien attempted to depict each spirit of the ‘yokai' tradition; an ancient race of demons whose descendants would later terrorise the earth under the guises of Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan. Now, two Bristolian men aim to rediscover the near-forgotten Yokai, and return these ancient beasts to their former glory, in the form of the Bento Bestiary. Fourteen spirits and demons are lovingly rendered by Ben Newman in the bold and colourful illustration style we have come to expect from him. Newman draws heavily on early and mid-20th century design in his work, incorporating worldwide themes from European deco to Japanese film posters and 50 s American cartoons, never losing his strong sense of a most English deadpan humour. Each image is complimented with words from S J Donaldson. Whether detailing the love letters of Nure-onna (a gigantic snake-headed woman), or a poetic treatise on the child-eating desires of the Kappa (a sort of strange, perverted turtle), the writer always has one foot in the carnival tent, one on the streets of noir, and the other inside a restaurant; a sort of freakish, hungry, Raymond Chandler." About the press: Nobrow Press endeavors to push the boundaries of the offset printing process to ensure that colour, format and paper quality combine to produce publications that are not just books, but collectible art objects. Many of our publications are run in editions of between 3000 and 5000 copies, our unique system of printing full spot colour publications gives our books the luxuriant quality of artists' books.