Watership Down

I've been persuaded to read Richard Adams's Watership Down. Seeing as I'm going to have to get my own copy, probably from ABE or eBay, which illustrator or edition would you recommend as a "keeper"?

In other UK news:

"Watership Down now rated PG after 45 years of terrifying children" (Guardian, 2023-07-21)
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jul/21/watership-down-now-rated-pg-film-or...

and comment:

"No more newborns: Watership Down has been upgraded to a PG. It'll still terrify children"
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jul/21/no-more-newborns-watership-down-has...

A UK cinema film rating of U (universal) means suitable even for very young children, while PG (parental guidance) means "some scenes may be unsuitable for young children ... A PG film should not unsettle a child aged around eight or older".

It's definitely not a book for younger children.

I found the film disturbing in my early 20s! I finally experienced it as an audiobook in 2017, and it was still disturbing.

Not nearly as scary as Night of the Lepus.

Which i just found out was a book, The Year of the Angry Rabbit. I want to read it now.

>5 MrAndrew: Good gracious! I remember The Year of the Angry Rabbit as a magazine serial* in Australia when I was about 15 years old. It looked scary but according to the all-knowing:

The Year of the Angry Rabbit is a science fiction novel by Australian author Russell Braddon, in which giant mutant rabbits run amok in Australia while the Prime Minister uses a new superweapon to dominate the planet.

The pulp narrative was played for laughs, and designed as an indictment of war, nationalism and capitalism. The novel was also notable as being part of a small revival of Australian science fiction in the 1960s. Its comic-horror tone was well received and a movie version was released in 1972 titled Night of the Lepus – a straight-faced monster movie that dropped the humor of the book.

I also remember bits of an old BBC radio comedy from vaguely about the same time, starring "Professor" Jimmy Edwards:
They are in (i think) a laboratory, probably modelled on the image we all have of Dr Frankenstein's laboratory. Voice in the corridor outside, shouting: "Look out! It's escaped!
Another voice, also shouting: "What's escaped?"
FX: Loud roaring noise
Jim: "Great Heavens! It's the rabbit! We must recapture it before it finds (pause) food ..."

*In the Australian Women's Weekly, no less. The AWW tried, quite successfully, to maintain a level of quality. I remember a quite serious article about the cellist Jacqueline Du Pre, her struggle with MS, and her relationship with her husband Daniel Barenboim.

ETA You might have to work a bit to get a copy. Even in Australia it's hard to find now — cheapest copy I found on line was about A$160.

That's a lot of lettuce.