Jake & Dinos Chapman: Bedtime Tales for Sleepless Nights

In Bedtime Tales for Sleepless Nights, the Chapman Brothers reconceive the Victorian morality tale for less sanctimonious (and more misanthropic) times. Bearing on its cover the motto “Sticks and stones may break thy bones but words will surely maim you,” this volume offers fans and younger readers alike a darker take on the children’s bedtime book, with gruesomely illustrated rhymes that stray far from the saccharine-coated songs typical of the genre: “This hideous armature/ That hides and seeks/Will outlast the flesh/Its turn to reek/Hung out for death/On spiny barb/Your birthday suit/Now an ill-fitting garb.” The etchings and stories have been made by the artists specifically for this project and are reproduced exclusively in this volume.