Mr Rouse Builds His House - Hardcover

Mr Rouse has decided to build himself a house. Inevitably, the process is much longer and more detailed than Mr Rouse initially envisages: "Mr Builder, I'm not a bird, you know; how could I live in a house made of leaves?" This quirky tale takes the reader through a timeline of inventions. In a wonderful blend of absurd poetry and British pragmatism, Mr Rouse contends with housing, transport, lighting, plumbing and timekeeping, encountering quarrelling stairs and dapper guttering on his way.

Franciszka and Stefan Themerson were leading figures in the Polish avant-garde during the 1930s. Both moved to Paris in 1938 and then on to London, where they established in 1948 the influential Gaberbocchus Press, publishing Kurt Schwitters, Jankel Adler and Alfred Jarry, among others. Barbara Wright was a translator and art writer who worked closely with Franciszka and Stefan Themerson at Gaberbocchus Press. Wright translated key works of 20th-century French literature into English including Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi, Samuel Beckett, Tristan Tzara and Raymond Queneau.