A PLANK BRIDGE BY A POOL. By Norman Thelwell.

1978 1st edition. 4to (192 x 252mm). Pp160. B/w illustrations, pictorial end-papers. Brown boards, blind-stamped heron motif to upper board, spine titled in gilt.

"In A Plank Bridge by a Pool, Norman Thelwell describes, in words and pictures, how he landscaped his cottage garden, dug a pool (which he subsequently enlarged), created three little islands, built a stone bridge and a boathouse and found himself living beside a tiny stretch of water which sustained a lively fish and insect population and attracted wild birds of all kinds - coots, moorhens, ducks, swans, geese, herons, cormorants and many others. These inhabitants of the pool, the islands, and the surrounding countryside come vividly to life in the author's many enchanting pen drawings. His tale evokes the strenuous efforts, the quiet pleasures, and the hilarious escapades which have characterised his life at Herons Mead. Thelwell's book will appeal equally to lovers of wild life and amateur landscape gardeners - to fishermen and those who like 'messing about in boats'. His record, in word and line, of the beauties, curiosities and occasional cruelties of nature, prove him to be one of those rare observers who make us feel we have gazed over their shoulders for a moment and seen what they saw. In A Plank Bridge by a Pool he shares with the reader an enchanting secret garden - a microcosm of the natural world outside."