The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. MACKESY, Charlie.

First edition, first impression. The edition "printed exclusively for Waterstones" with the publisher's strike-line "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" and a purple cloth spine is the true first impression of this title. The trade edition also featured a strike-line but was bound with a blue cloth spine and was published later. Charlie Mackesy, the artist, illustrator, and author, wrote The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse after a commissioning editor saw his drawings on social media. It rapidly became a best-seller and was adapted into an animated short film in 2022. When named as the "book of the year" for 2019 by Waterstone's, this title was described as "a moving study in friendship in a troubled world" and as "a much-needed message of hope, both in our capacity to love and our ability to be kind - to ourselves and to each other". "'The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse' named Waterstone's book of the year", Books+Publishing, 2 December 2019. Octavo. Illustrated throughout by the author. Original purple cloth-backed illustrated boards, spine lettered in gilt, front cover lettered in bronze and illustrated in colour, rear cover lettered in black, illustrated endpapers, pale yellow silk bookmarker. Without dust jacket, as issued. A fine copy.