I would give the poems on their own a four-star rating, but Peake's magnificent illustrations elevate the book to a five-star status.

That's not to denigrate the poems, many of which are favourites and, in isolation, would be five-stars, but some are more curiosities, included because this is complete nonsense.

There are some beautifully coloured illustrations included and these, for me, were alone worth the price of the book. I've also wanted to see Peake's Figures of Speech for a long time, but haven't found a copy I could afford, so it was a bonus to have these humorous visual conundrums included here.

My favourite poems, in no particular order, are Linger With Me Now, Thou Beauty; It Makes a Change; Uncles and Aunts; Squat Ursula; O Here It Is and There It Is... and Little Spider.

Definitely a book I'll be re-reading over and over. What a joy! ( )

The ultimate bedside book and Carcanet Press are to be congratulated. It's sumptuously illustrated and lovely to handle. Robert Maslen's excellent introduction puts the nonsense verse in context and discusses its affinity with the Titus books. ( )