Down with Skool Signed by Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle

It's uncommon to find a copy of Down With Skool! A Guide to School Life for Tiny Pupils and Their Parents (1953) signed by both the author Geoffrey Willans (1911-1958) and the illustrator Ronald Searle (1920-2011). The book, shown here in a recent bookseller listing, dates from the first Molesworth's book's second printing. It has considerable foxing and wear, while of course it lacks a dust jacket. Given all that, the offering price was probably reasonable.

Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle
AbeBooks listing ended September 23, 2020

https://www.abebooks.com/DOWN-SKOOL-Guide-School-Life-Tiny/30749358561/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook

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Ronald Searle: An Autographed Cartoon from Down with Skool!

Down with Skool!: A Guide to School Life for Tiny Pupils and Their Parents was first published in 1953. Geoffrey Willans had originally created Nigel Molesworth, the Curse of St. Custard's, in the pages of Punch. Nigel's trenchant observations of prep school life and later of the world around him were written in schoolboy language with idiosyncratic schoolboy spelling. Willans and illustrator Ronald Searle collaborated on a total of four Molesworth books that were widely enjoyed in England and elsewhere. History For Sale offers a newsprint cartoon from Down with Skool!, the first of the Molesworth books, autographed by Searle in 1973. The cartoon in question is from Chapter 2, "Boo to Sir, or, Are Masters Nesessessary?" It is part of a Pythagorean proof by Nigel ("Proposition: Masters Are Sloppy and Like Gurls") that appears on page 29.

They hav got to hav something in their lives besides Caesar pythagoras and other weeds.
Ronald Searle
Down with Skool (1953) by Geoffrey Willans

Ronald Searle
History For Sale

https://www.historyforsale.com/ronald-searle-cartoon-signed-6-1973/dc80237 

Searle's actual dates are 1920 to 2011, as any fule kno.

Note:  We are in the midst of Ronald Searle's centenary.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Ronald Searle

Molesworth

Attempted Bloggery's Weedy Index

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Ronald Searle: How to Be Topp with a Sketch of Molesworth Reading

Molesworth reading? A copy of the American edition of How to be Topp (1954), a book by Geoffrey Willans with illustrations by Ronald Searle, has been graced by Searle with a drawing of the one and only Nigel Molesworth reading, it would seem, the newspaper. The drawing is undated, but the signature seems roughly to correspond to the era of publication as any fule kno.

Ronald Searle
AbeBooks Listing Retrieved August 17, 2014

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=13534881328&searchurl=bsi%3D30%26amp%3Bkn%3Dronald%2Bsearle%26amp%3Bsortby%3D1%26amp%3Bx%3D0%26amp%3By%3D0

Note:  Harry Potter fans may not be aware of the connections between the series by J. K. Rowling and the Molesworth books. For that matter, Rowling herself may be in denial. But you and I can learn about the Nigelian origin of the name Hogwarts and other influences on Rowling here.

Ronald Searle added sketches to countless books, yet only a few have made their way onto the internet. You can help preserve them for posterity by submitting scans or photos to this blog.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Ronald Searle

J. K. Rowling

Books with Original Sketches

Attempted Bloggery's Index for Headmasters

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Ireland: A Few Last Words

Here are a few last words—and names—from my trip to Ireland in July.

James Joyce, but not the one you were thinking of
Clifden, County Galway

Road sign in Tubbercurry pointing the way to Ballinacarrow

Insomnia coffee shop, Dublin

The cafe you've been looking for—and we are glad we found it!
Brother Hubbard, Dublin

Molesworth Street, Dublin
(Fans of Nigel take note.)

Queen of Tarts, Dublin  

Note:  This concludes my travel photos from Ireland. Would you like to see my pictures from Cape Cod in August too?

Attempted Bloggery's quick links:

Ireland

Dublin

James Joyce

Labor Day

Attempted Bloggery's wordy index

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Ronald Searle: Molesworth at Christmass

Nigel Molesworth, the imaginative chronicler of St. Custard's prep school, has a great gift for misspelling. He is the 1950's-era creation of writer Geoffrey Willans and illustrator Ronald Searle. At a Christie's South Kensington sale in 2001, the artist, presumably, sold the 1959 drawing Molesworth:  Coo, Gosh, Christmass.  Christie's corrected the obvious misspelling of the holiday, a sure sign that they weren't in on the joke. Nigel wears a paper crown from a Christmas cracker, a longstanding English tradition, as any fule kno.

Ronald Searle, Molesworth:  Coo, Gosh, Christmass, 1959

Christie's South Kensington, Sale 2281, Lot 229, December 6, 2001

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/ronald-william-fordham-searle-molesworth-coo-gosh-3851642-details.aspx?from=searchresults&pos=6&intObjectID=3851642&sid=99f821d2-a1eb-4f1f-9aa8-b09cdbe752b8&page=1&lid=1

Lot Description

Note:  Further reading:
           Ronald Searle
           Christmas
           Winter

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