All the Buildings in London: That I've Drawn So Far by James Gulliver Hancock

I bought All the Buildings in London: That I've Drawn So Far by James Gulliver Hancock on a whim when I placed an order from Book Closeouts, a couple months back. It only has a few solid pages of text and the rest of the book is just the drawings with maybe a line or two of text, sometimes no description other than the name of the building and where it's located. 

Here's an interior shot (pardon the London tourist trinkets; I needed something to hold it open):

Here's a closer image of the text about Liberty, the department store (you should be able to click to enlarge):

London is one of my favorite places on the planet, hence this emotional purchase. I've been there enough times that it almost feels like a second home (and would love to live there). I knew from the cover image that I liked the artist's style and his story is quite interesting, too, so even though the text is minimal, it's fun reading. I particularly enjoyed seeing how he rendered buildings I'm familiar with and found myself thinking, "I can use this as sort of a guide for some new places to see, next time we're in London." Wow, that sounds kind of uppity. I hope there's a next time.

Highly recommended to architectural art lovers and London aficionados -  A fun look at a fascinating city with a lengthy architectural history and a stunning variety of buildings, new and old. The artist has some particularly unique flourishes he brandishes in his illustrations that make them almost look dynamic rather than static. You can see a little of that in the top part of the cover image. I love that sensation that the buildings are solid yet there's a sense of action. 

All the Buildings in London: That I've Drawn So Far would make a nice coffee table book. There are coffee table books that you keep out for sparking conversation and coffee table books for yourself. This one is mostly for me to flip through and reminisce. But, I'm OK with any conversation-sparking that happens when the pandemic ends and we can have people over, again, of course!

And, speaking of art . . . I'm working on a collage to combat Election Anxiety, right now (and we watched mindless TV, last night, for the same reason). Hope everyone else out there is holding up.  

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