Heroes and Heroines

London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. Very Good/Very Good. 1987. First Thus. Hard Cover. 8vo 046006262X Dust jacket complete, unclipped.Grey cloth with bright gilt titling on spine. Neat name on f. paste down. Drawings by Robin Jacques. 64pp. clean and tight. Heroes and Heroines was first published in 1933, a natural sequel to Eleanor and Herbert Farjeon's delightful collection of poems about the English monarchs, Kings and Queens, which Dent reissued in 1983 with new illustrations by Robin Jacques. In rollicking rhymes, the Farjeons sum up what every child - and adult - essentially needs to know about heroes and heroines as diverse as Alexander the Great, Boadicea, Sir Francis Drake, Pocahontas, Garibaldi and Florence Nightingale. Their judgements are acute as well as humorous, and their views on these thirty-five major historical characters continue to give as much pleasure and instruction as they did more than fifty years ago. Once more, in this companion volume to Kings and Queens, Robin Jacques has produced brilliant drawings of these heroic figures which perfectly reflect the Farjeons' own attitudes towards the great and good who have peopled history. His portraits are ironic, witty and elegant -graphic summaries of the various personalities as succinct as the poems themselves. Jacket illustration by Robin Jacques. .