A groundbreaking publication depicting the birth and development of a beautiful
but fragile friendship bewteen a young boy, James, and the Snowman he has built
in his back garden...

There is no dialogue in this story. Briggs lets the panels tell the tale. It ends with
quite possibly the most forlorn panel in illustrative history...

James and, indeed, The Snowman himself reappeared in an anthology  work
called All In A Day published in 1986. Later on, in 1991, they featured in TVC's
celebrated animated adaptation, as well as the follow-up Father Christmas...

The setting for 'The Snowman' is RB's own house and garden in Sussex.  In the book,
the Snowman takes James on a night time flight over the South Downs and on, over
the top of  Brighton's Royal Pavilion to Brighton Pier. This is altered in the animated
film, where we see James being flown north, to a magical rendezvous with Santa Claus.
      
The success of the book and subsequent film has spawned a plethora of  'Snowman'
adaptations, including clothbook versions, book and soft toy gift sets etc. RB has not
illustrated every version. Maggie Downer was used for a 1999 Random House edition.
Random's  site also features a brief Briggs biography...

The licensing rights are held by 'Snowman Enterprises Ltd', whose wintry website
features plenty of 'Snowman' info, including details of the stage show, games, and
an online store stocking a range of snowy products:

See also: Filmography - The Snowman
                Filmography - Father Christmas
                Bibliography - All In A Day



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