Off the shelf: Hoffnung 1

One of my favourite cartoonists is Gerard Hoffnung. Over the next few days I thought I'd post some cartoons from one of my favourite books of his called ‘The Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra.’ This book was first published in March 1955 by Dobson Books. My copy is an eighth impression from 1962, but most of his books are still in print.
Hoffnung lived a short life, dying of a cerebral haemorrhage when he was only thirty-four in 1959 - fifty years ago. I’ll write more about his life later, but you can tell what he was like from his drawings, which exude the kind of warmth and humour you don’t usually see outside the pages of children’s books now.
This, in case you need telling, is the cover.