Gentleman Jim

By: Raymond Briggs

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Hardcover | 7 August 2008 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover
32 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.2 x 17.1 x 1.0

Hardcover

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First published in 1980, two years after The Snowman, Gentleman Jim has been unavailable for many years. We are delighted to bring it back into print as the first book in an occasional series, Cape Graphic Classics.

Gentleman Jim is the story of Jim Bloggs, a lavatory attendant who, dissatisfied with his station in life, devotes his time to envisioning a world beyond it. His walls are lined with books like Out in the Silver West, the Boys’ Book of Pirates and Executive Opportunities, which provide fodder for his ruminations on career change. Encouraged by his wife, Hilda, also eager to incorporate more adventure into her life, Jim sets out to bring these dreams to fruition by accumulating various accoutrements, only to discover that the life of an executive, an artist or a cowboy is more complicated and costly than it appears.

About The Author

RAYMOND BRIGGS was born in Wimbledon in 1934. His earliest ambition was to be a newspaper reporter, but this changed to becoming a cartoonist at the age of thirteen when he started drawing seriously, and was very influenced by the work that appeared in Punch. He attended Wimbledon School of Art from 1949 to 1953, gaining a National Diploma in Painting. Since then, he has produced a steady flow of top-class picture books, ranging from JIM AND THE BEANSTALK to FUNGUS THE BOGEYMAN. He is now one of the most successful and distinguished picture book creators in the world, and was voted Children’s Author of the year in 1992 and has twice won the prestigious Kate Greenaway medal. His cartoon- strip style lends itself very well to animation and three of his books have been made into films: THE SNOWMAN, now a permanent fixture of the Christmas season, FATHER CHRISTMAS, and the highly acclaimed and controversial anti- nuclear tale, WHEN THE WIND BLOWS. He now lives in Hassocks, Sussex.

Industry Reviews

This slim volume, a reissue of a 1980 work, has seminal significance in the development of the graphic novel.British cartoonist Briggs's renown rests mainly with his work for children (Fungus the Bogeyman, 2005, etc.). This graphic novel is plainly aimed at adults in its illustrated tale of a toilet cleaner, Jim Bloggs, whose innocence and imagination land him in trouble, as he tries to conjure a richer future for himself and his wife. "Something a bit more exciting more adventurous something with more of a challenge," he daydreams as he scrubs and mops. "There's not much opportunity for self-advancement in toilets." So he begins daydreaming about being a war hero, or a famous painter, or an executive (whatever that is), before returning home to his wife, Hilda, who matches his innocence and hardly serves as a check on his imagination. She's ready to follow him to Texas, where he can be a cowboy and she'll find work as a bar floozy ("Ooh, that would be nice," says the middle-aged housewife. "I hope I'm not too old."), though neither of them seem to realize just how much it might cost to costume themselves properly, let alone afford the fare overseas to the American Southwest. Jim then decides to become a modern day Robin Hood, robbing from the rich to give to the poor, yet all he can afford are a toy sword, rubber boots and a donkey instead of a horse. Through a series of hilarious mishaps and misunderstandings, his life changes irrevocably, but not in the way that he'd planned.A short, sweet and meaningful volume. (Kirkus Reviews)

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