Here, again, Pratchett and presumably Briggs are being both silly and serious in how they pick apart the seemingly cheerful exterior of the clown. Rather like a civil liberties lawyer, Pratchett has Vimes points out that the innocent have a great deal to fear from the sorts of people who come up with aforementioned motto.Īfter the section on the much-loved Watch come the Fools’ Guild. See, for example, the section on the Watch’s badge and Vimes’ rejection of the proposed motto to the effect that the innocent have nothing to fear. But there’s also that edge of righteous anger that gives the Discworld its bite. While it’s hard to say where the balance between Pratchett and Briggs lies so far as the text goes, it all reads very much as true Discworld material, with all the wordplay and genre jokes we’ve come to expect. Needless to say, these have been out of print for many, many years now and what ‘The Ankh-Morpork Archives’ sets out to do is remaster the illustrations alongside the words of Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs, bringing them to a whole new audience.Įach section is introduced with a couple paragraphs from Briggs and Kidby, essentially reminiscing on the process behind their contributions to the original diary and these throw up some nice insights into Pratchett’s character, as well as Pratchett’s belief that Kidby rather resembled Nobby. There are four sections to the book, reflecting the source material, four volumes of the old ‘Discworld Diaries’, specifically the ‘Discworld’s Ankh-Morpork City Watch Diary 1999’, the ‘Discworld Fools’ Guild Yearbook And ‘Diary 2001’, the ‘Discworld (Reformed) Vampyre’s Diary 2003’ and ‘Lu Tze’s Yearbook Of Enlightenment 2008’.
Fortunately, once you open up the book, it pretty much delivers on that. Of course, for £25 you’d expect a decent return for your money but, if you’re a Pratchett fan, this book promises a great deal. In fact, the whole thing oozes quality, with colourful hardback covers, beautifully marbled endpapers and heavy, glossy pages.
Similarly, Paul Kidby’s detailed but always slightly comical artwork includes sepia-tinted portraits of notable characters on almost every page, hopefully bringing a smile to readers who’ve enjoyed the ‘Discworld’ novels over the years.Īt 240 pages and 24 by 24cm in size, this is a big, heavy book that’ll rest on any coffee-table with a certain solidity. Here are brief biographies, guild entrance exams, crime reports, sacred texts and even the plans to a certain celebrated floral clock. The central conceit, if you will, is that the inhabitants of the city of Ankh-Morpork are worth reading about, whether you’re student of anthropology or merely a curious tourist. If you’ve ever read one of those books about some exotic country filled with photos and essays about the lives of the people living there, you’ll have some idea of what ‘The Ankh-Morpork Archives’ is all about.
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