UNCLE is an elephant. He is immensely rich, and he's a B.A. He dresses well, generally in a purple dressing gown, and he often rides about on a traction engine, which he prefers to a car.
He lives in a house called Homeward, which is hard to describe, but try to think of about a hundred skyscrapers, all joined together and surrounded by a moat with a drawbridge over it, and you'll get some idea of it."
The above paragraphs make up the foreword for Uncle Cleans Up by J. P. Martin.
I am featuring illustrations from the book, which is the second in a series of six, all illustrated by Quentin Blake, who is best known for his work with Roald Dahl. (By the way, the books are out of print, although a two-in-one edition of the first two books was re-issued about six years ago by Red Fox. The first book, Uncle will be re-published in June this year under the The New York Review of Books imprint.)
Blake's quirky drawings go well with Martin's rather mad story and even madder characters. Uncle, pompous, eccentric, and bursting with charisma, is definitely my favourite fictional elephant. Babar who? Uncle tips the scales on all counts!
The following illustrations are from the1965 Sparrow Books edition. (Click on the thumbnails for bigger versions of the pictures):
Chapter 2: A Visit to Whitebeard's, og 29, "The pigs, the dear little pigs, how I love yje DEAR LITTLE PIGS!!"
Chapter 6: They Visit the Fish-Frying Academy, pg 59: Goodman has a strong turn for adventure and reads a lot of detective stories.
Chapter 8: They Call at Cadcoon's Store, pg 80: "Here's another plate of bread and butter. I will be downstairs washing the works of my clock with very thin gruel while I'm waiting."
Chapter 10: They Go to Lost Clinkers, pg 105: Uncle has a very small singing voice. Everybody was surprised. It sounded so strange coming from such a big creature, and he sings in a rather mincing way, very different from his usual thundering tones.
Chapter 17: Little Liz, pg 171: "She reminds me of somebody I don't like - I can't think who."
Chapter 19: The Great Sale, pg 205: "We'll have a million out of the old dog as the lowest ransom!" bellowed Beaver Hateman.
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