You are probably familiar with Rien Poortvliet‘s Gnomes. And, if you’re not, there’s a big chance you’re thinking of his gnomes when the concept pops into your mind. He published his monographic work about them in 1977 and it’s without any doubt his most recognized book. It was followed by a smaller one, Secrets of the Gnomes, in 1982.
But I’m not here to tell you about small old drunk people.
I’m hear to tell you about Sandman.
No, not Neil Gaiman’s Sandman.
In 1989, Poortvliet published his The Book of the Sandman and the Alphabet of Sleep and I was lucky enough to have an Italian edition as a kid. I still have it and it’s good, as it was never translated in Italian again and you can find it now for the remarkable sum of 120 €.
The book is narrated from the point of view of an explored who finds himself stranded by a snowstorm and sheltered by the Sandman himself and his wife (whom one might only assume is the Sandwoman… though I should warn you she’s an acquired taste, aesthetically speaking). This particular Sandman is… well, he’s basically a gnome, but he’s all wearing red and has a nightcap. He’s flying around on a donkey, a thing I always found incredibly entertaining as a kid.
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