Mr. Punch

Oxford, Eng.: Oxford University Press, 1989. Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. The interior of the book is clean and tight, showing just a few signs of previous use. The laminated covers are also in very good condtion, with minor wear. A very nice copy. Synopsis: This picture-book is based on the Punch and Judy puppet plays, but this version tells of Punch's first, quite wicked life, and his involuntary transition to another dream (nightmare?) world where Judy, the baby, and a whole host of historical characters co-exist. Punch is offered a choice -- staying there to entertain the Court, or being allowed to "return to the other world and re-enact your barbarous life there as a creature of cloth and wood". He chose to return, and moments later, in the Spring of 1573 he was found at the side of the road by the great puppet-master Silvio Fiorello, who took him to the Court of Naples and started him on his -- second? -- successful life.