The Moomins: The World of Moominvalley: 80th Anniversary Edition - A Stunning Gift Book Containing Everything You Need to Know about the Moomins - Hardcover

Tove Jansson (1914-2001) was born in Helsinki into Finland's Swedish-speaking minority. Her father was a sculptor and her mother a graphic designer and illustrator. Winters were spent in the family's art-filled studio and summers in a fisherman's cottage on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, a setting that would later figure in Jansson's writing for adults and children. Jansson loved books as a child, and set out from an early age to be an artist; her first illustration was published when she was fifteen years old; four years later a picture book appeared under a pseudonym. After attending art schools in both Stockholm and Paris, she returned to Helsinki, where in 1940s and '50s she won acclaim for her paintings and murals. From 1929 until 1953 Jansson drew humorous illustrations and political cartoons for the left-leaning anti-Fascist Finnish-Swedish magazine Garm, and it was there that what was to become Jansson's most famous creation, Moomintroll,

Philip Ardagh is a prolific writer who has been published in more than forty languages around the world. His previous books in this series include Bunnies on the Bus and Bunnies in a Boat, both illustrated by Ben Mantle. Philip Ardagh is the author of the Eddie Dickens trilogy; High in the Clouds, cowritten with Sir Paul McCartney; and Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky, which won the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. He has also collaborated with illustrator Elissa Elwick on the Little Adventurers trilogy of picture books and You Just Can't Count on Dinosaurs. Philip Ardagh lives with his wife and son in England.