This omnibus edition - now in hardback - contains much of Norman Thelwell's invaluable advice to aspiring equestrians on how to get into the saddle and stay there; each item illustrated with inimitable and deadly clarity. From the first publication of Angels on Horseback in 1957, the Thelwell pony entered the language and the libraries of horse-lovers everywhere. The angels in Angels on Horseback are children, but there is plenty here about their parents. Both for those who know Thelwell, and for those who have not met him before, this book is a savoury at all times but especially after attending a gymkhana. Since their debut appearance in Punch over sixty years ago, Norman Thelwell's cartoons and drawings have delighted millions of people all over the world. His portrayals of sporting pursuits, human beings at play, the life of the countryside and, of course, ponies, are the products of a unique comic genius.

Norman Thelwell took his first kitten home in a shopping-bag slung from the handlebars of his bicycle at the age of ten. He still has the scars to prove it. Magnificat is a comic tribute to the mysterious relationship human beings have long had with the feline species.