Masquerade - massive inspiration for me!!

Masquerade, published in 1979 by British artist and author Kit Williams, is not just a picture book - it’s one of the most beguiling and eccentric literary phenomena Britain has ever produced. At first glance, it appears to be a beautifully illustrated children’s story about a hare named Jack on a whimsical quest to deliver a jewel to the sun. But scratch the surface (and thousands of readers certainly tried to) and you’ll find an elaborate, fiendishly complex treasure hunt buried within its pages - both literally and metaphorically.

Kit Williams was already an accomplished artist when he took on the idea of creating a storybook that would also be a real-world puzzle. He spent over two years meticulously painting the illustrations and weaving clues into every image and line of text. The result was nothing short of astonishing. Hidden within the lush, detailed illustrations were hints pointing to the location of a real treasure: a golden hare, sculpted by Williams himself and buried somewhere in the English countryside.

It was a stroke of genius. In a country already fond of cryptic crosswords, eccentric inventors, and country walks, Masquerade hit a very particular national nerve. Suddenly, people weren’t just reading the book - they were scrutinising it with magnifying glasses, scouring maps, and digging up half of Oxfordshire in search of the hare. The nation was hooked.

The book itself is a visual marvel. Williams’ paintings are rich with symbolism and layered detail, combining the fantastical with the arcane. It’s as though a medieval illuminated manuscript collided with a surrealist dream. Clocks, bees, angels, fish, letters, and numbers - everything might be a clue, or a red herring. Even if you weren’t trying to solve the puzzle, it was (and still is) a thing of beauty to behold.

The frenzy reached its peak in 1982, when the hare was finally discovered - though not entirely in the spirit intended. The winners, it emerged, had been tipped off by someone with inside knowledge, leading to something of a scandal. Williams, deeply disappointed, distanced himself from the outcome and for a while withdrew from public life.

Yet despite the controversy, Masquerade has endured. It remains a one-of-a-kind book - part fairy tale, part visual riddle, and entirely unlike anything before or since. It also inspired a generation of puzzle books, armchair adventurers, and amateur sleuths. In many ways, it predicted the rise of immersive storytelling and interactive games, but with a very British twist: instead of virtual worlds, it sent people tramping through real fields with shovels and compasses.

What makes Masquerade so fascinating is its blend of whimsy and depth. It is not just a children’s book, nor just a puzzle. It is a handcrafted artefact of creativity, intelligence, and mystery - made by a man who believed books could be more than words on a page. Kit Williams didn’t just write a story - he invited readers into an adventure that blurred the lines between fiction, art, and reality.

I reeeeally desperately wanted to solve the puxxle when it first came out. And truly, there’s nothing else quite like it...