You are invited to take an art class with the master of aesthetic curiosity, Nick Bantock. Urgent 2nd Class is an inspirational handbook for making art by embellishing and tampering with old documents, maps, postcards, scraps, envelopes, and other ephemera. Written in Bantock's ebullient, intimate prose and featuring numerous visual samples, Urgent 2nd Class  shows how to alchemically transform the unexpected into your own idiosyncratic art.

Through his international best-selling Griffin & Sabine saga, the world has come to know and cherish the art of Nick Bantock. Urgent 2nd Class is his ingenious handbook to free-flowing visual creativity for people of all skill levels. To prepare, simply add the will to make whimsy of easily obtainable materials.

A lover of "creativity that honors the effects of time and makes mischief with history," Bantock takes the reader on a tour of the media-maps, engravings, money, photos, stamps, labels, games-and techniques-overlapping with photocopiers, rubber stamping, collaging-which open up a wealth of opportunities to create your own art from the ephemera around you. Nearly 200 pieces of art illustrate each medium and method.

A guided tour of Bantock's inspirational work, exploring the methods and mind-set of the artist who can spin gold from tatters, Urgent 2nd Class is the handbook for a new generation of visual poets.