A Ring of Tricksters: Animal Tales from America, the West Indies, and Africa (Signed)
New York: The Blue Sky Press, 1997.
Illustrated by Barry Moser. First Edition. Hardcover.
Signed by artist Barry Moser on the title page. First Edition, First Printing.
Long ago, when alligators and elephants stood tall and talked, Bruh Rabbit and Anansi Spider were full of tricks. They were born little, so they had to depend on their cunning and wit to survive among bigger and stronger animals. The first African Americans brought stories about these remarkable tricksters and many others from Africa to the West Indies and the southern United States. They also made up new trickster tales, keeping the pattern of the African stories in which a resourceful hero uses trickery to get what it needs from larger, more forceful adversaries. Eventually sone of these tales returned to Africa. Passed from generation to generation along the story ring of the slave trade, the tales in A Ring of Tricksters are a testament to the strength, creativity, and indomitable spirit of those who have told them. Engaging, intriguing, comic and tender, A Ring of Tricksters introduces readers to an important body of folklore as it celebrates the wondrous range of the imagination.
The book was designed by Barry Moser and Kathleen Westray. The original paintings for the book illustrations were executed in transparent watercolor on paper handmade at the Barcham Green Mills in Maidstone, Kent, Great Britain for the Royal Watercolour Society.
Item #901121ISBN: 0590473743
8-1/4 x 12-1/4", quarter white cloth, olive green paper over boards, olive green endpapers, 111pp, illustrated throughout in vivid color by Barry Moser.
Very fine in dust wrapper and protective mylar.
Price: $60.00