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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
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As soon as I picked up this book this weekend, I just knew that I had to talk about it today on Towel Day. And then I sat down to write about this—and I’m not really sure what to say. Anyone who’s read this site much knows how bad I am at describing art. But, what else am I going to talk about today?
For the 42nd Anniversary of the publication of the novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the publishers commissioned noted illustrator and political cartoonist Chris Riddell to tackle this classic. And wow, what a great choice.
Contents
The book starts off with “A Guide to the Guide” a short piece Adams wrote about the series in its various forms shortly after the release of So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. Then we get the text of the novel—attractively laid out, with illustrations scattered throughout.
One of the best things included in this edition is a large, full-color illustration on the inside cover—it’s a collection of some of the more obscure characters mentioned (largely in passing) throughout the novel—and the book ends with a key to that illustration. Which is just great, I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t give almost any of these any thought. And now I don’t have to, Chris Riddell did it for me.
Some of the Characters and Scenes Depicted
By and large, the illustrations don’t really match what I had in my head (although the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal was pretty close), but almost every time I look at one, my reaction is “yeah, he’s nailed it, that’s what _____ should look like.”
I’m not going to go over all of them, but I’ve had a blast flipping back and forth through the book looking at the pictures. The small furry creature from Alpha Centauri (a real one) was adorable, Slartibartfast was…perfect, Marvin looks nothing like the TV show or movie—thankfully. Eddie the Shipboard Computer is odd, but I can buy it. Eccentrica Gallumbits looks, well, you know. Trillian’s mice and (particularly in their native universe) and The Heart of Gold was just great. Deep Thought was another surprise but absolutely worked. Gag Halfrunt looks just like a private brain-case specialist should look. Last, but not least, the falling sperm whale and the poor bowl of petunias got a two-page spread, and I’d absolutely love to have a print on my wall of it.
Trillian
My biggest beef about the book is the small number of illustrations of the core characters—I liked what I saw, but we really only got more than one illustration of Trillian (although Zaphod, or should I say…Phil? is in the background).
I’m sure most of us can figure out why they’d include another picture of the attractive mathematician and astrophysicist, rather than the bumbling human, the two-headed egomaniac, the oddball researcher, or the morose android.
Some examples
So, I wasn’t really sure what I could get away with as far as showing samples from the book, so I didn’t want to just take some pictures of a few of the illustrations (besides, it’s clear that my photographic ability isn’t that great). But I was able to find this drawing for some original art to celebrate the publication. The art shown isn’t exactly what you find in the book (the book version of Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz, for example, is far more disgusting), but these sketches give you an idea of what you’ll find here. That’s about the best I can do.
It’d take a lot for me not to like an edition of this novel, I realize, but I absolutely love Riddell’s work on this. Which is great for me—if I’m going to bring another edition into my house, it’d better be great. It is, the illustrations capture the feel and flavor of the novel, and make it feel fresher. I strongly recommend it for fans new, old as well as those who are still on the verge of being fans.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.
Lashaan Balasingam
Don’t kill me yet but I haven’t read this classic and I feel like such news would warrant death by you hahaha I do love the sound of this edition though! If the relatively ugly edition I got ends up giving me the reading experience of a lifetime, I’ll definitely invest in this illustrated edition! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
HCNewton
Like I told a coworker this week about this same book–no need to go for the fancy stuff, cheap paperback is the way to go. Kill you? Nah, envy you. You get to experience it for the first time. (do remember it’s 42 years old, some of the humor is dated).
If you get hooked, then you can go crazy with things like the illustrated edition–or even the leather cover (it was a gift, I swear…)
John
Your reviews of Douglas Adams works are basically long winded tripe.
If you had captured the meaning of what he was saying in his works. You would have understood that your entire reviews and the way you wrote them are what he was protesting against.
The fact that they show up predominantly on Google searches out of nowhere. Proves the point to what he was saying.
I’m non boomer but older than social media.
It makes it easy for me to see how your reviews have been brought forward in a false manner to promote yourself. You egotistical, irrelevant son of a…
HCNewton
Thanks for stopping by!
Wait, my posts show up “predominantly on Google searches”? Sweet! 🙂
But more importantly, you get me. You really, really get me. <3