Combes Simon Shepherd David (4 results)

Condition: Good. Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc.

Hard Cover with Dustjacket. Condition: Very Good+. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good+. First Edition First Printing. Oversize hardcover with dustjacket : very good plus / very good plus. Book: light bumping to binding, otherwise like new. Jacket in new mylar protector; slight wear to jacket. Inscribed and signed on half-title page by Combes. Size: Folio - over 12 - 15" tall. Signed by Author(s). Book.

Soft cover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. 855 grams. First UK paperback.

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. Combes, Simon (illustrator). 1st Edition. Near fine unread condition oversized (folio, over 12 inches tall) blue cloth boards with silver spine lettering contained in a near fine condition price-clipped color photoraphic dust jacket. Includes Foreword; Author's Acknowledgments; An African Experience; and Publisher's Acknowledgments. Profusely illustrated with color photographs. The rear outer jacket has some indents, a bit of which has transferred to the rear outer board, none of which is noticeable except under bright light; the volume and dust jacket are both in otherwise fine unread condition. "This is an unorthodox book. Coffee table presentations of African wildlife almost invariably consist of photographs and, from a first glance, the reader could be forgiven for thinking that these pictures ARE photographs. Incredulity might follow until the chance arises to make a comparison of the two. Then it is revealed that Simon Combes' animals are swollen with a life, and warmth, that no Nikon or Hasselblad can capture. A second and unlikely revelation is that the book isn't so much about art, as about fun and adventure. A cracking good read with little room left over for artistic technicalities. One suspects that Simon may be harboring trade secrets, but, he says, that's just the way things turned out. People who commission paintings of African wildlife call for the dramatic or, in the case of an admirer who requested a cheetah up a tree, the unlikely. But never, it seems, the humble warthog, baboon or hippo. And nobody wants a drooling hyena gazing down from the dining room wall. So to balance things up, and to demonstrate a highly-honed draughtsmanship that owes nothing to the camera, a number of pencil sketches are included. Simon's story is rich in encounter with wildlife, yet he writes with the restraint of one whose years of familiarity with the bush don't call for elaboration, or undue speculation as to danger. Rather his observations and anecdotes build up on each other to create a rich background against which to enjoy individual tales for a second and third time, and encourage the reader to look at a painting a little longer, for this will reveal exquisite detail that may have been missed, or taken for granted. That is a sad note, for comparatively recently it may have seemed that the Africa portrayed here could, itself, be taken for granted." - from the inner front jacket flap.