The hard cover books are published by Sort Of Books in England and feature Tove Jansson’s stunning original artwork, which has been lovingly restored. But can they race home before the comet crashes?

They discover that a fiery comet is headed straight for their beloved Moominvalley. Their journey is packed with adventures and they meet new friends on the way - Snufkin, the carefree wanderer, the fascinating Snorkmaiden, and her brother the Snork. In Comet in Moominland Moomintroll and Sniff set off to consult the professors in the distant Lonely Mountains. More often than not these are the Moomins as drawn by Tove Jansson's brother, Lars, after her death in 2001, or reimagined for the Japanese children's.The Moomin series begins with the most thrilling adventure of all. They adorn mugs, rugs, sweet wrappers, wallpaper, even nappies and underwear. Today, we might think of happy, carefree, soft and simple things when we think of the Moomins. 'If only we can get home to mamma before it comes nothing can happen. Next comes the urgent journey home, back to Moominvalley, before the comet arrives-'we must hurry home as fast as we can', says Moomintroll. Along the way, they meet other creatures: Snufkin the 'tramp' living in a tent in a desolate desert Snork and his sister Snorkmaiden, whom Moomintroll falls in love with and the Hemulins, who are so focused on collecting stamps and butterflies that they don't notice when the clouds part to reveal a deep red sky. They venture into the 'Unknown, wild and enticing'. Moomintroll and Sniff leave Moominhouse on a little raft to travel to the observatory in the Lonely Mountains, with a bag packed by Moominmamma with pancakes and warm trousers and other necessities. But, clouds cover the valley and, so, Moomintroll and his friends can't tell whether there is or isn't a comet coming towards earth the threat is invisible-they can only choose to trust the stranger who has been leaving these ominous signs in the landscape. In the mountains, a 'sudden rift in the swirling vapour reveal once again the threatening sign of the comet cut by some unknown hand in a sheer wall of rock'. Seagulls have also arranged themselves into this shape, as have crocodiles, ants, pearls on a beach, pears collected for Moominmamma to make jam.

Carvings have appeared on trees depicting 'a star with a tail'. Moomintroll and 'the little animal Sniff' have been spotting strange and foreboding signs in Moominvalley. This is a passage from Comet In Moominland, the second book in the Moomin series by Tove Jansson, published in 1946 and translated from the Swedish by the publisher Ernest Benn in 1959. Then Snufkin said slowly: 'It would be awful if the earth exploded. 'Everything would explode,' said Moomintroll gloomily. 'What would happen then?' whispered Sniff. 'It would be a terrible thing if a comet hit the earth.'

Comet in moominland