Gillian's colorful drawings of elephants, policemen, and kangaroos come to life and pursue a treasure.

Gillian's colorful drawings of elephants, policemen, and kangaroos come to life and pursue a treasure.

Inside the back cover of this little book is a big clown face with the features missing. Inside the book are enough funny clown features and props — bizarre eyes and ears, outrageous wigs, magnificent mustaches and more — to turn that clown face into an ever-changing center-ring attraction. 28 full-color stickers.

Step right up for the Greatest Book on Earth! For more than 70 years, Clowns International—the oldest established clowning organization—has been painting the faces of its members on eggs. Each one is a record of a clown's unique identity, preserving the unwritten rule that no clown should copy another's look. This mesmerizing volume collects more than 150 of these portraits, from 1946 to the modern day, accompanied by short personal histories of many of the clowns. Here are Tricky Nicky, Taffy, Bobo, Sammy Sunshine, the legendary Emmett Kelly, and Jolly Jack, clowning since 1977 and still performing today with a penguin puppet named Biscuit. A treasure just like the eggs it enshrines, The Clown Egg Register is an extraordinary archive of images and lives of the men and women behind the make-up.