This Is London, First Edition, 1959

This Is London.
Written and illustrated by M. Sasek.
Published by MacMillan, New York, in 1959.
First Edition 🌈
Condition: VG. There is some light damage to spine corner as shown in photo, and some slight wear to cover edges. But all pages otherwise clean and bright, and no pen marks or inscriptions. 
Binding: Hardback

This Is... is a series of children's travel books written and illustrated by Czech author Miroslav Šašek between 1959 and 1974.

If you love mid-century modern art and illustration you will fall head over heels for these books. Colourful, quirky depictions of the modernist blocks, glassy facades and cultural circumstances of post-war cities, as well as the curious habits of their inhabitants.

Miroslav Šašek died in 1980 and his books fell into relative obscurity for almost 20 years, until 2003, when this series was re-issued.

Nothing beats a rare first edition of this wonderful 1959 book though. This is London is the second in the Series and now one of the hardest to find in first edition. Here the beloved illustrator shares his impressions of London with its beautiful buildings, historic monuments, bridges, parks, shops, black cabs, Horse Guards, and famed Underground, paired with simple, funny sentences that will make you smile from ear to ear.