I got this mainly for the illustrations - which are worth it - but the text strikes me as probably useful to beginners wishing to learn, if not exactly the bible of technique. On the other hand, I gave up sketching in my teens and I think I'll carry on taking photographs, instead...

Notes for an autobiography: Peake was also born in China and grew up there! He left in 1922 so left before Ballard was born and he lived in Tienjin, not Shanghai. His early life  influenced the Gormenghast books.

I'm always impressed when an an author makes me like a poem about love or the moon!

A couple of poems about fame and ambition - unexpected themes!

Shocking! A poem about the Moon that I like! Rhyming "frightening" with "brightening" is almost as good as "intellectual/hen pecked you all." (Can't remember who wrote the latter, or the name of the poem but it's stuck with me since I was ~15 yo in an English lesson.)