Creeping in and out of these pages are some of the most despicable characters in the world. How in the world they have ever become lovable - every last parent-murdering, wax-image-sticking, potion-brewing one of them - is a mystery known only to Charles Addams and countless thousands of his fans. They are, most of them, cartoons that have appeared already in The New Yorker, but were never published before in book form. There are six that no one has ever seen. And all of them will make you giggle and shutter deliciously.