Portraits of British post-war types, from Lady Something to Professor Blank, which originally appeared in Punch. I forget how great Searle used to be--although actually it turns out I was thinking of Ralph Steadman. Did Searle also not get all spiky and disturbing later? No, but he did start drawing very debauched-looking cats. Anyway, the caricatures in this book are wonderful, although the whole thing leaves rather a depressing flavour. The types are either unhappy or held in contempt by the author. This was a birthday present to my dad when he was 23, one of the books that I rescued from my mother after their divorce--must see if my dad wants it back. I read it as a teen, and don't remember noticing that the portrait of Esmé, the balletomane, is gender-indeterminate. The book's not even listed at Amazon, but Bookfinder has copies listed at very reasonable prices. You never know what's going to be collectible (like Neal Stephenson's Big U which I impulsively picked up as a remainder before he'd published anything else) and what's going to be forgotten and worthless (most old books, which very few people seem to realize).
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
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