The Art of Discworld

"Paul...remembers the history of the characters in a way that's almost frightening, so that a simple illustration will contain little details mentioned in half a dozen books." - Terry Pratchett, The Art of Discworld Paul Kidby, who did the beautiful artwork in The Art of Discworld, tends to cram in a lot of references to the books which are fun to look out for. Here is my spotter's guide to references hidden in the book, plus a bit of information about where the pictures come from and who they show. The book's pages are not numbered, so I have put my descriptions in page order and put in a purple page divider line to show where a page is turned. I have used the text or picture titles (in purple) where they are available and made up my own titles (in black) where they are not. Not every page is mentioned but the descriptions appear in page order. This section is currently incomplete. It goes as far as the picture of Death and Pixie Albert. Inside front and back covers: Lord Downey, head of the Assassins’ Guild Buggy Swires (Moon?) dragons Doreen and Arthur Winkings, aka the Countess and Count Notfaroutoe Possibly Lu-Tze? Constable Visit Unknown troll Mr Slant, the zombie lawyer Another dragon Constable Downspout (probably – you can see the Watch badge around his neck) Rob Anybody, the Big Man of the Nac Mac Feegle in The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky. Title page and front cover: The Mona Ogg, by Leonard da Quirm. This picture is mentioned by Silverfish to Cuddy in Men At Arms. Apparently the teeth follow you around the room. The sitter is a young Nanny Ogg. The landscape in the background looks like Lancre. Introduction page and facing page: This is fairly obvious, but the pictures along the bottom are, left to right: Susan Sto Helit, from the Discworld Family Values poster Moist von Lipwig, from the cover of Going Postal Rincewind Vimes. You can tell the image has been flipped if you look at his badge. The initials AMCW and the number 177 are reversed. Cohen the Barbarian, from the cover of the hardback The Last Hero Death (duh) Tiffany Aching, from the cover of A Hat Full of Sky Mort …So Good They Named It Ankh-Morpork You can see two clacks towers, both on the right-hand page. They look a bit like sails. The very tall, twisty tower on the right-hand side is the Tower of Art. A Thinking Tyrant Left-hand picture: Si Non Confectus, Non Reficiat is the Vetinari family motto and means, more or less, If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It. Vetinari is pictured with his small grey terrier called Wuffles, who features in Sourcery and The Truth. Ankh-Morpork’s Finest Pictured are: Front, l-r Cheery Littlebottom – note the high heels welded onto her boots, and the leather skirt. Buggy Swires Samuel Vimes – note his AMCW 177 badge, his baton of office (from Jingo) and the Dis-organiser imp on his knee. Nobby Nobbs – true to form, he is smoking a roll-up and has pigeon doings on his breastplate Second row, l-r Carrot Ironfoundersson – he is wearing his Protective as mentioned in Guards! Guards! Fred Colon – his sergeant’s breastplate has muscles depicted on it Third row, l-r Visit – complete with the turtle pendant of his Omnian religion Angua – she wears her badge on a collar around her neck Reg Shoe – sporting a Glad to be Grey badge and wearing armour pierced by arrows. We see Reg with arrows sticking into his chest when he finds Carrot playing football with the street gangs in Jingo. Back row, l-r Dorfl Detritus – note the thinking helmet with a fan and a thermometer attached Watch HQ You can see carrier pigeons flying around the pigeon loft on the right-hand side. Sam Vimes Left-hand page, main picture This is the scene from Guards! Guards! In which Vimes visits Lady Sybil for information on dragons and has one lay its head in his lap while he is drinking tea. Notice that Vimes looks quite pale and ill, as befits someone living mainly on whiskey and fry-ups. Small picture Here Vimes is shown with his habitual cigar. Right hand page, bottom left The Dis-organiser given to Vimes by Lady Sybil in foc. The incompetent imp appears to have a small xylophone – perhaps to go ‘Bingeley bingeley beep!’ with. Right-hand page, bottom picture of Vimes He is lighting a cigar with a baby dragon. He does this while talking to the Assassin in Feet of Clay. Nobby Nobbs and Sergeant Colon Left-hand page The Patrician, Colon and Nobby dressed as Klatchian entertainers Gulli, Gulli and Beti in Jingo. Detritus Left-hand page He carries the siege weapon he picked up in the armoury in Men at Arms and has his thinking helmet on, complete with fan and thermometer. The Unusual Suspects In the Night Watch cover picture you might spot: Old Vimes wearing the eyepatch he is given after the eye injury he receives in the book. His badge seems to read 054 instead of 177, since it is the badge given to him when he convinces the captain he is Keel. But young Sam’s badge has the number 177. Lu-Tze is sweeping lilac blossoms, which is what the veterans wear to commemorate the battle. Young Nobby is holding a spoon. He mentions at the beginning of the book that Keel gave him a spoon, and Vimes does so later on. The guy on the left is the Unmentionable whose arm is broken by Vimes/Keel. He can be recognised by the cast on his arm which has ‘with love from John Keel’ written on it. Carcer is next to him, with two bloodstained knives. He continually produces knives throughout the book. Behind him is Doctor Lawn, holding the big syringe of purple liquid he comes to the door with near the beginning of the book. To his right, in the shadows, is Vetinari, who can be recognised by his trademark steepled fingers. An alive Reg Shoe is the one holding the Morporkian flag. On the ground by the dragon is a bell. Watchmen's bells are mentioned several times in the book: Vimes/Keel advises young Sam to change his heavy bell for a normal one; Sam nearly hits an unmentionable fatally across the head with one, and also rings one violently to attract attention when he and Vimes/Keel face off with Carcer in Morphic Street. To the left of the dragon is a short watchman with a flattened nose and a bunch of keys on his belt. This is Snouty, the Watch House jailer. There is a man dressed in black standing on the far right of the picture. This is Findthee Swing, the head of the Unmentionables. He is carrying his cane/swordstick and also a long ruler, which is used in his dungeon for measuring the shapes of prisoners' heads. Otto Chriek The picture includes the following details mentioned in The Truth: Salamander in a cage, with a mallet resting on top, presumably to startle it and make it discharge its light (the ‘flash’). Phial of emergency blood around Otto’s neck, for rapid resurrection after crumbling to dust. You’ve Got to Have Dragons… The dragon on the top left is Chubby, the dragon who was stolen from Lady Sybil’s sanctuary in maa after he was rescued by her from a blacksmith. Chubby was later blown up outside the Assassins’ Guild. Errol (aka Goodboy Bindle Featherstone of Quirm), on the right-hand page, is the dragon given to the Watch by Lady Sybil in Guards! Guards!. He has large nostrils ‘like jet intakes’, as described in the book. Rincewind The FourEcks picture on the left includes a number of things from the book: Rincewind wears a hat with a woven brim, and the word Wizzard and the stars are picked out in seashells, as described at the beginning of the book. He wears a pair of ‘thong’ sandals which he makes in the book. The corks hanging from the brim of his hat are added during the book to keep flies away. He carries a sheep in a bag, from when he is accused of sheep rustling. He also carries four ‘tinnies’ of beer. The luggage is wearing ladies’ shoes, which it does after living with Neilette and the others. Rincewind and the butterflies The two butterflies fluttering around Rincewind’s hat in the drawing on the left-hand side are Quantum Weather Butterflies and have, as specified in Interesting Times, a Mandelbrot pattern on their wings. The Tech of Discworld In the drawing of Hex, you can spot the following things that have been mentioned in the books: A beehive A stone circle (they are the druidic equivalent of computers in The Light Fantastic) The FTB (fluffy teddy bear) An anemometer (wind speed measuring device) Tubes full of ants Cogwheels Hourglass which drops down on a spring A ram’s skull An aquarium A wheel behind it showing phases of the moon A ‘melting’ clock (probably the unreal time clock) Wind chimes Lots of cards with holes in them A sticker reading ‘Anthill Inside’. Note how it mimics the 'Intel Inside' stickers on Roundworld computers. A quill pen poised to write on a piece of paper The Ascent of Man: The Librarian The picture on the bottom left is when the Librarian has just become an orang-utan. He is surrounded by the ‘small purple newts’ and ‘pineapple custard’ mentioned in The Light Fantastic. The large picture on the right-hand page shows the Librarian about to play the organ. It’s probably the one in the University’s Great Hall since he lacks the bow tie which he tied around his head before playing the one in the Opera House in Maskerade. Quiet Please Looking around the edges of the picture, you will find: Quoth the Raven, sitting on his skull as described in Soul Music The Death of Rats The pencil-eating creature (‘Looks like a very puzzled bird…with a very odd-shaped beak’) from Hogfather. Note the pencil-sharpener-shaped beak, and the pencil on the stack of books next to it. An iconograph imp having a smoke. The Eater of Socks from Hogfather. As described in the book, it looks like a very small elephant with a very wide, flared trunk. It is eyeing up the sock on the floor beside it. And several banana skins. The Librarian is reading the Monster Fun Grimoire, the same book Cutwell uses in his unsuccessful attempts to conjure some fireworks for the coronation in Mort. The Librarian Before we get onto the book titles, notice the following: A collar hangs on a hook on the left-hand side. The name tag reads ‘Pongo’, marking it as the collar the Librarian had to wear on the coach to Lancre in Lords and Ladies so he could travel as a pet, free of charge. Below it is that necessary snack, a bunch of bananas. Just to the left of those, you can see some clickie film and just about make out what looks like a rider on a camel. This is the film of ‘the Sons galloping down from their mountain fastness, in single file, on identical camels’ that the Librarian stole from Bezam’s picture house in Moving Pictures. Below the bananas is a Watch badge (marked AMCW) which was given to the Librarian in Guards! Guards! when he became a member of their SAS (special ape services). He still had it in Jingo. Peanut shells lie on the floor in front of the Librarian. He eats peanuts in Moving Pictures and Wyrd Sisters. And probably in other books that I can’t recall right now. The Bursar tells the Archchancellor in Moving Pictures that they pay the Librarian's wages in peanuts. The page he is writing starts with the word ‘Ook’. In Men at Arms, we read: “The Librarian of Unseen University had unilaterally decided to aid comprehension by producing an Orang-utan/Human Dictionary. He'd been working on it for three months. It wasn't easy. He'd got as far as "Oook".” Two darts can be seen at the bottom of the picture. The Librarian plays darts at the watchhouse sometimes – in Men At Arms, Carrot tells Vetinari: “Nobby lets him play and he just leans a bit and hammers the darts in with his fist.” A ball of string. This is revealed in Guards! Guards! to be an invaluable tool for the discerning librarian: "When you're setting out to look for something up in the multidimensional folds of L-space what you really need is a ball of string." Several coins. I’m not sure if these are significant. Pinned to a post on the right are two iconographs. One shows the Librarian with Nobby, Colon and Carrot and may have been taken at the same time as the group shot sent by Carrot to his parents at the beginning of Men at Arms with the letter which reads: “Please find enclosed pictures of my room and my freinds in the Watch, Nobby is the one making the Humerous Gesture but he is a Rough Diamond and a good soul deep down.” The other shows the Librarian and several wizards with King Verence (in his Fool’s garb) and Magrat (in the Queen Ynci armour) on their wedding day. The Librarian travelled to their wedding in Lords and Ladies. A list of books (starting on the left-hand side and working round anti-clockwise): Monster Fun Grimoire (Mort) – Cutwell uses this book in an attempt to make fireworks for Queen Keli’s coronation in Mort. Little Folks’ Book of Flower Fairies (The Light Fantastic) – the book in which Twoflower said he had seen pictures of pixies. Nosehinger on the Laws of Contract (The Light Fantastic) – Twoflower gives this to the four horsemen to help them with their game of bridge when he and Rincewind visit Death’s house. Anima Unnaturale (Sourcery) – I don’t recall this title, but a bit of internet searching reveals it was written by Broomfrog. More details welcome! The Shuttered Palace (Pyramids) – a book perused by Teppic as a young man. Ptraci’s grandmother posed for the illustrations in her youth. The Dictionary of Eye-Watering Words (Guards! Guards!) – the best place to find out the meaning of the dread word ‘figgin’. Stripfettle’s Believe-It-Or-Not Grimoire (Reaper Man) – again, I can’t remember how this book comes into the story. If you’ve read the book recently and can remember, let me know! Book of Going Forth Around Elevenish (The Light Fantastic) – apparently written by a mysterious and rather lazy Llamaic sect. It is mentioned as being a ‘mere pamphlet’ compared to the Octavo. Octarine Fairy Book (The Colour of Magic) – Its pictures of dragons captured the imagination of the young Twoflower. Laws and Ordinances of the Cities of Ankh and Morpork (Guards! Guards!) – this book was given to Carrot by Mr Varneshi and later proved fatal to Lupine Wonse. It was taken away by the Librarian at Vimes’ request. Bumper Fun Grimoire (The Light Fantastic) - It gets a mention as containing the one original joke left in the universe and is described as being a ‘mere pamphlet’ compared to the Octavo. Fullomyth (Sourcery) – In the novel it appears to be a sort of Filofax for occult creatures. The annoying genie summoned by Nijel has a Fullomyth. The Theory of Thaumic Imponderability (Soul Music) – Written by Marrowleaf, according to my net research. Personally, I can’t remember anything about it. The Book of Alberto Malich The Mage (Mort) – In Mort it’s called The Book of the Magick of Alberto Malich the Mage and is a book of magical theory. The picture of Alberto in this book belonging to Cutwell is what leads Mort to realise Albert is a powerful wizard. How To Kille Insects by Humptulip (Men at Arms) – This is 2000 pages thick. The Librarian picks it up when he hears Cuddy and Detritus digging through the floor of the Library, and hits Cuddy over the head with it. On its cover in the picture you can see the squashed remains of the insects it has been used to kill. Woddeley’s Occult Primer (Sourcery) – another one that sounds familiar, but whose role in the novel escapes me. Death and Company It might be worth mentioning that the little fishing skeleton at the bottom right of the frame is probably not Death, but rather one of the skeletal ‘garden gnomes’ surrounding his fishpond. I’m sure these are mentioned in one of the books, but I forget which one. Internet research indicates they are also in the Discworld game Missing, Presumed… (called Mortality Bytes in the US). Also notice the numerous omega symbols: on the brooch holding on Death’s robe; to the left of the front door; behind the words Mon Repos (this is more obvious on the pencil sketch of the picture to the right) and in the two pointy bits at the bottom of the silver frame. The frame itself is an omega with its ends twisted together. The ‘engraving’ on the main part of the frame shows two elongated hourglasses – or, in this context, lifetimers – curving their way up the sides. Death with scythe There is an upside-down omega on the sheath of the sword. The scythe has ‘the heavy double-curved handle of the plains’, as described in Reaper Man. Discworld Country Paul has picked up on details from Reaper Man: Cyril the dyslexic cockerel, with the slate reading Cock-A-Doodle-Doo ‘in heavy gothic script’, which Death writes for him in the novel. There is a jug of ‘humorous apple juice fermented drink’ on the ground by the gate, with which Death gives himself a headache in the book. On the facing page, the two Latatian phrases translate as Time Flies (Tempus Fugit) and Don’t Fear the Reaper (Non Timetis Messor). The latter is described as the Sto Helit family motto by Teatime in Hogfather. Death on wheels On the motorbike you can see the following things which were mentioned in Soul Music: Several mirrors, one of which may be the Bursar’s nose-hair mirror. Two small cartwheels, bones, and branches. A horse’s skull strapped over the front wheel Strings of beads Death wears the Dean’s jacket, with the studded words ‘Dean Born to Rune’, and has a rose in his teeth, as mentioned by Nobby who sees him tear through the city gates. Death bursts out of the bed of black roses, watched by Modo, the University’s dwarf gardener. The Grim Squeaker The Death of Rats has mini versions of Death’s scythe and omega cloak brooch. In the picture with the stocking, Quoth the Raven holds a walnut in his beak. This probably comes from the following exchange in Hogfather: There was a clicking noise and the raven’s voice added, ‘These damn eyeballs are hard, aren’t they?’ Susan raced across the room and snatched the bowl away so fast that the raven somersaulted and landed on its back. ‘They’re walnuts!’ she shouted. The Death of Rats holds up two eyeballs in one picture. They’re probably there because his companion, the raven, is so fond of them. In one picture, the Death of Rats holds a pork pie. In Hogfather, he nibbles at a pork pie just before he sees Death acting as the Hogfather for the first time. In the same picture, the raven has his claw on what looks like a satsuma. Satsumas are another thing Susan tells him to stay away from in Hogfather: ‘They’re grapes, understand? And the other things are satsumas. Get out of the fruit bowl!’ In the right-hand picture, Death appears to be enjoying a curry, complete with mango chutney, naan bread and onion bajhis (sp?). His fondness for curry is first noted in Mort, when he takes the eponymous hero to the Curry Gardens. Albert In the top-left picture he is tipping oats into a saucepan, probably in preparation to fry some porridge. Susan and Albert have the following exchange in Soul Music: ‘It doesn’t have to be fried to be breakfast,’ said Susan. ‘I mean, you mentioned porridge and you don’t fry porridge-’ ‘Who says?’ He has the permanent drip on the end of his nose, as mentioned somewhere in Mort that I can’t currently find. In that book he is also described as ‘one of those stick-thin, raw-nosed old men who always look as if they are wearing gloves with the fingers cut out – even when they’re not,’ and as having ‘exactly the right type of half-moon spectacles to peer over the top of.’ In this picture he has a red-looking nose, the correct kind of spectacles, and is indeed wearing the specified type of gloves. The cats in the picture are there because Death has a fondness for cats, and Susan finds his house full of them in Hogfather. The right-hand page shows Death and Pixie Albert, ‘the oldest, most unpleasant pixie in the universe. The fact [his face] was below a jolly little green hat with a bell on it did not do anything to improve matters.’ Albert is holding a glass of sherry and a mince pie, the food traditionally left out for the Hogfather. In Hogfather, Death says that Albert has drunk 1,800,706 sherries and eaten 68,319 pork pies during his time as an honorary elf. Death holds a long piece of parchment with two lists of names under the headings ‘Naughty’ and ‘Nice’. Each has two ticks by it to show he has checked it twice. This comes originally from the song which starts ‘You’d better watch out’ (also referenced in the book) and includes the words: He’s making a list, He’s checking it twice. He’s gonna find out who’s naughty and nice. Santa Claus is coming to town. and appears in Hogfather in the following exchange: ‘Did you check the list?’ YES. TWICE. ARE YOU SURE THAT’S ENOUGH? ‘Definitely.’ COULDN’T REALLY MAKE HEAD OR TAIL OF IT, TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH. HOW CAN I TELL IF HE’S BEEN NAUGHTY OR NICE, FOR EXAMPLE? Later in the book, we get the following exchange between Ridcully and Death: ‘It’s a false beard!’ NO, IT’S NOT, said Death, desperately. ‘Here’s the hooks for the ears, which must have given you a bit of trouble, I must say!’ In the picture we can see how Death solved this difficulty: there are loops sewn into the hood, to which he can attach the beard hooks.