Detail from a strip in the 'I LOVE You Baby Basil!' book.

THESE BOOKS CAN ONLY BE OBTAINED DIRECT FROM LEO BAXENDALE BY MAIL ORDER. MAKE OUT CHEQUES OR POSTAL ORDERS TO LEO BAXENDALE, AND SEND TO: LEO BAXENDALE, 11 BROCKLEY ACRES, EASTCOMBE, STROUD, GLOS. GL6 7DU.

January 2005: Leo Baxendale's new book The Beano Room has now burst onto a wondering world. Being written with dry wit, this book should be read while eating lashings of toast simply oooooooozing with butter. Hand-sewn and hand-bound by the specialist Black Cat Bindery in Somerset. A beautiful artefact to hold in the hands, this book is crafted to outlast you and your descendants, my dears, yea unto the umpteenth generation. 55 guineas, plus the cost of our usual sumptuous, over-the-top, take-no-prisoners packaging, and sent to you by Special Delivery, brings the total of the cheque or postal order you need to send me, to £65.50.

THE WORST OF WILLY THE KID

Such is the size (308mm x 384mm) and weight (1.65 kilograms - and that's the weight of the book alone, it weighs a LOT more with its slipcase) of THE WORST OF WILLY THE KID, and because it is intended to last forever (or at the least - let's be realistic - if not quite forever, then at least for several lifetimes) each book of this severely limited edition has been hand-bound and hand-sewn at the specialist Black Cat Bindery at Castle Cary. Instead of high-gloss lamination on the covers, we've used a 'matt' laminate (which in fact isn't quite matt, but has a delicate egg-shell sheen to it) as being more subtle, and nearer to the appearance of my original drawings. Each voluptuous volume is supplied to you contained snugly & sumptuously in its own sturdy yet svelte slipcase, hand-made and covered with black buckram at the Black Cat Bindery. The Worst of Willy the Kid is priced at 100 guineas. Guineas instead of £s are suitably posh for such a posh book; but since, I think, guineas are no longer legal tender (shame), please make out your cheque to Leo Baxendale for £140 (this covers the book, its stalwart slipcase, packaging and Special Delivery postage) and send to Leo Baxendale, 11 Brockley Acres, Eastcombe, Stroud, Glos. GL6 7DU. Each copy is signed, and will be posted to you by Special Delivery.

For more background to the making of the book, see the Baxendale Bulletin Board.

Pictures in the Mind
By Leo Baxendale

I wrote the first draft of Pictures in the Mind in 1983, nearly half-way through my 7 year High Court action over my Beano creations, then put it aside, as I had other things to do.

In October of 1998, at my 68th. birthday, I thought I had better finish the draft and publish the book, before I fell off the twig. To my surprise I found that instead of revizing the text, I was re-writing it.

The book is autobiography, history and comedy; or can be taken as a narrative of the eternal struggle of comedy versus anti-comedy. Pictures in the Mind is hardback, sewn, and has 288 pages. There aren't illustrations as such, but there are 28 chapters, and I have preceded each chapter with a chapter-heading page where I've used as decorations, details from my original drawings from different periods. There is also a frontispiece by the Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell.

The book is £13.95. Please add £4.50 for first class postage, and packing. (The book is very heavy to start with; then I've gone to such incredible lengths to send the books through the post superbly protected, that the packages are VERY heavy). Direct from me by first class mail: send cheque or postal order for £18.45 (made out to Leo Baxendale) to: Leo Baxendale, 11 Brockley Acres, Eastcombe, Stroud, Glos. GL6 7DU.

WILLY THE KID. My Willy the Kid books were published (by Gerald Duckworth & Co.) in 1976, 1977, and 1978. They went out of print in the 1980s. I had taken the precaution of putting mint copies of all three away when they were published. Since they went out of print, I have sold them to collectors, over the years. Alas, all the copies of Willy Book 1 (1976) and Willy Book 3 (1978) are now gone. I still have some copies of Willy Book 2 (1977) left (mainly because I had more to start with) but their numbers have steadily been dwindling, and once they are gone, they'll be gone for ever.The mint copies of Willy Book 2 are £50 each, plus £6 postage (Special Delivery) and packing, direct from me by mail. Please make cheques or postal orders out to Leo Baxendale, and send to me: Leo Baxendale, 11 Brockley Acres, Eastcombe, Stroud, Glos. GL6 7DU.

On Comedy; The Beano and Ideology. (First edition 1989. Second edition 1993). Illustrated. A4 paperback. A vivid history of creation and struggle. ("Brilliant. I didn't understand a word of it" - Smiffy.) If The Bash Street Kids, Minnie the Minx and the rest are right up your street, then this is the book for you. The inside dope on a bunch of endearing dopes. £7.95. Plus £3.45 postage and packing (All books are sent by first class letter mail, very securely packed and in Postpak padded envelopes, to arrive in perfect condition.) Direct by mail from Leo Baxendale. Please make cheques or postal orders out to Leo Baxendale, and send to: Leo Baxendale, 11 Brockley Acres, Eastcombe, Stroud, Glos. GL6 7DU.

Down the Plughole. 1995. A5 paperback, 40 pp. Starring WILLY THE KID, Baby Basil, Candy, Daft Dog, Mad Bonzo, Cynthia, Porky Pye, Wee Georgie, Tortoisaurus Rex, Dumbo et al. First UK publication of drawings I made in 1979 for publishing in Europe, and which were a labour of love. I have written a long and moving text (in verse, what's worse) to accompany the drawings. Available direct from Leo Baxendale. Please make cheques or postal orders out to Leo Baxendale, and send to Leo Baxendale, 11 Brockley Acres, Eastcombe, Stroud, Glos. GL6 7DU. £2.95 plus £1.05p postage and packing, direct from Leo Baxendale.

BETTER STILL, our two-in-one Barmy Offer, comprising the Down the Plughole book (original price £2.95) AND the Down the Plughole CD Romic (original price £13.95) - for £9.95 inc. post & packing. (In 1979 I took the 1944 burlesque ditty 'The Babby Down The Plughole' as the basis for elaborating a WILLY THE KID and BABY BASIL comic strip adventure for Dutch comic Eppo. Then in 1995 I removed the Dutch speech balloons from my artwork, and replaced with English ditto, & added an accompanying commentary (in verse, what's worse) and published the result as the paperback book for children DOWN THE PLUGHOLE. Later still, using the drawings and commentary as a plot-within-a-plot, I added a GREAT DEAL more artwork, and elaborated the whole comedy structure, & we made the CD ROMIC (first ever F1 hybrid between a CD and a comic) DOWN THE PLUGHOLE (for adults of all ages). When the CD ROMIC was running on a monitor at the opening of my exhibition to celebrate the 60th. birthday of The Beano in July 1998 in Stroud, a group of 9-year olds were watching the monitor. The producer from Central TV who was filming them, came over to me: "Those chilren are entranced, and so am I. It's a world away from the 'zap the enemy' Japanese computer games."

The CD Romic DOWN THE PLUGHOLE is therapeutic wit, Rude but Relaxing.