- L. M. Montgomery
A number of years ago I decided to try and collect the full set of L. M Montgomery books. I already had two or three in a particular edition and I liked how they smell old and have water colour covers. Since then I have regularly trawled second hand books stores, online stores and ebay and my collection now stands at 19 books. Most of the covers look fantastic but there are a couple that have clearly been done by a different artist and the cover art for these books can be questionable.
One of these more unusal covers is for the short story collection Further Chronicles of Avonlea. For your enjoyment I have placed here a picture of the cover.
This cover is so confusing!
What is happening and what is going on with that cat? The woman is sitting down you would assume, but the angles make no sense. What is that brown thing in her lap, a blanket, a leg or the side of the chair? If it the side of the chair what is her other arm propped on? Is the cat also sitting on her lap or is is sitting on some material that coincidentally matches the colour of her dress? The cat is three times the size of her head, why is the cat so large? How is that coffee table standing? The legs seem as if they wouldn't be able to hold the weight of the plant. And then the man, why is he sitting behind her? If he has come to talk to her why would he sit facing her back? Why is he so cheerful? Maybe she doesn't know he is there? Why is she ignoring him if she does know he is there? I'm pretty sure the man and the cat have a shared joke.
This is one of the most bizarre covers I have ever seen but thankfully they aren't all as strange as this one. I have read the short story that centers around this cover art but I can't remember it at all, I think I need a refresher. Maybe it is about a man and cat who trick a sad woman to sit in a narrow uncomfortable chair so they can laugh at her.
Here is one of my favourites covers from this collection -
And here is my collections so far. I only need three more to make it complete.
