'One of the greatest achievements in comedy. A work of staggering genius' – David WalliamsGorgeous 42nd Anniversary gift edition of Douglas Adams's pop-culture classic, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, stunningly illustrated throughout by Costa Award-winner Chris Riddell. It's an ordinary Thursday lunchtime for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly afterwards to make way for a new hyperspace express route, and Arthur's best friend has just announced that he's an alien. At this moment, they're hurtling through space with nothing but their towels and a book inscribed in large, friendly letters: DON'T PANIC.The book is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the weekend has only just begun . . .Douglas Adams's mega-selling pop-culture classic sends logic into orbit, plays havoc with physics and twists time, but most importantly it's very, very funny.

One of the greatest achievements in comedy. A work of staggering genius, Dazzlingly inventive, Fizzing with ideas . . . brilliant, I haven’t known many geniuses in my life. Some brilliantly smart people, but only a tiny handful would I class as geniuses. I would class Douglas, because he saw things differently, and he was capable of communicating the way he saw things, and once he explained things the way he saw them, it was almost impossible to see them the way you used to see them, The first book that wasn't by Roald Dahl that really made me laugh

Douglas Adams created all the various and contradictory manifestations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: radio, novels, TV, computer game, stage adaptations, comic book and bath towel. He was born in Cambridge, UK and lived with his wife and daughter in Islington, London, before moving to Santa Barbara, California, where he died suddenly in 2001. Chris Riddell, the 2015-2017 UK Children's Laureate, is an accomplished artist and the political cartoonist for the Observer. He has enjoyed great acclaim for his books for children. His books have won a number of major prizes, including the 2001, 2004 and 2016 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medals. Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse won the Costa Children's Book Award 2013. Chris has been honoured with an OBE in recognition of his illustration and charity work. He lives in Brighton with his family.