The life and works of Alfred Bestall - Caroline G Bott

Caroline Bott, after years of careful and painstaking research, as pieced together the life of her godfather, Alfred Edmeades Bestall MBE, who wrote and illustrated the Rupert Bear stories in the Daily Expressfor thirty years. Alfred Bestall bequeathed his tiny cottage in North Wales to the author with the words 'you will find all my early artwork in the loft. You will have to have a huge bonfire'. This was typical of his humble attitude towards his work, and, as readers will see, it is fortunate that Caroline ignored his advice and instead lovingly collected together and catalogued his work.

Alfred Bestall was an artist with enormous breadth of talent: as well as his Rupert Bear illustrations, achievements in themselves, his work ranges from perennially amusing cartoons for Punch to romantic, dreamy, watercolours for Tatler and Eve. Caroline also inherited Alfred Bestall's diaries and sketchbooks that tell of his experiences in the First World War, and his remarkable visits to Egypt, the Middle East and his beloved Wales, in addition to letters, photographs and other archive material. It is from this wealth of material that Caroline has drawn together his life.

The man who emerges is gentle and generous, and loved by all those who met him.

Alfred Bestall's devotees include Sir Paul McCartney (who has written the foreword), Prince Charles, Terry Jones, Terence Stamp and Sir Hugh Casson. Lavishly illustrated, this book will be a delight to all fans of Rupert Bear, as well as a wonderful evocation of an age gone by.