{"title":"Illustrated by Peter Hay","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781901677751","title":"The Ballad of Reading Gaol","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn May of 1895, the most dazzling man of letters of the nineteenth century was sentenced to two years with hard labour for ‘acts of gross indecency with another male person.’ On his release he moved to France, where he wrote the Ballad: an anguished plea for prison reform, and a passionate expression of sympathy for his fellow prisoners, those “souls in pain”. Oscar Wilde’s \u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of Reading Gaol\u003c\/i\u003e was a success from its first publication, and to this day some of its lines are among the most famous in the English language. In this powerfully illustrated edition Two Rivers Press presents Wilde’s Ballad alongside Peter Hay’s original images and adds a specially-commissioned \u003ci\u003eAfterword \u003c\/i\u003eby Peter Stoneley which draws on unpublished material in the prison archives.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308242907509,"sku":"9781901677751","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781901677751_1b59a1b2-4467-423d-a75d-07ed9d876f4c.jpg?v=1786029613"},{"product_id":"9781901677744","title":"Cat Jeoffry","description":"Cat Jeoffry is a self-contained passage from Christopher Smart's eccentric 18th century masterpiece Jubilate Agno (Rejoice in the Lamb) and the most famous piece of poetry ever written about a cat. Poignantly, Jeoffry was Smart's companion during his lengthy confinement for mental illness. His close and affectionate observations of the cat's antics both entertained him and inspired his moving religious celebration. Often anthologised, this passage brims over with the prankish playfulness and sudden ferocity of one of the literary world's most famous cats. Quirky, realistic, affectionate, it is at the same time a remarkable spiritual meditation. This new edition contains a commentary and notes by Tom Woodman. Peter Hay's characteristic black and white illustrations rampage through the book.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308951777653,"sku":"9781901677744","price":8.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781901677744_bb4f1629-6eda-4ac4-b5ef-6e18ce321371.jpg?v=1786029612"},{"product_id":"9781915048004","title":"Christina the Astonishing","description":"\u003cp\u003eSaint Christina the Astonishing was born into a poor Belgian family in 1150. She ‘died’ aged 22 but at her requiem she rose from her coffin and flew away like a bird, wanting to escape the smell of sinful humanity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis was the first of many mad, disobedient exploits in her long and remarkable life. Jane Draycott and Lesley Saunders retell – through their own poems as well as brief extracts from medieval religious writers – Christina’s story as a woman’s search for selfhood. The book includes artworks from Peter Hay, which he created for the original edition in direct response to the poetry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1998 and long out of print, this new edition makes Jane Draycott and Lesley Saunders’ sensual and exhilarating poetic collaboration available once more.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Two Rivers Press illustrated classic.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Ascetic and excessive, exasperating, sometimes absurd, the life of the little-known St Christina provokes fantasies and questions. Was she a wonder worker? Or an anorexic, fuelled by hatred of the flesh? Or a powerful woman whose legendary flights set her free from her time and her place? Rather than offering pieties or diagnoses, Lesley Saunders and Jane Draycott, invite us to a feast of soul food. Their two distinctive voices meet the voices of the Middle Ages in an extraordinary blend of the sacred and the profane, the rapt and the irreverent, playful, sensual and deeply felt.’ – Philip Gross\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Poetry as exciting as this is rare: fusing an earthy sensuality with the spiritual, it lets us hear Christina’s voice ringing clearly from the rafters.’ – Robyn Bolam\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘\u003ci\u003eChristina the Astonishing\u003c\/i\u003e is strange, wild, exhilarating: as in a piece of medieval polyphony, the authors mingle their voices, making connections between history and fantasy, between inner life and outer witness. I was intrigued, entertained, and – yes – astonished.’ – Marina Warner\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56309429764469,"sku":"9781915048004","price":12.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781915048004_54013128-5eeb-41a5-8925-96975479e66d.jpg?v=1786030243"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/illustrator-peter-hay.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}