Library says illustrations, beginning when he was seven and continuing through his life as a novelist and illustrator, show he was one of the great ‘writer-artists’
From a sketch of a scheming Steerpike in Gormenghast to one of Jim Hawkins alone on the shore of Treasure Island, more than 300 original illustrations by writer and artist Mervyn Peake have been acquired by the British Library.
Peake, who died in 1968, is best known for his gothic fantasy series Gormenghast, but he was also “arguably the finest children’s illustrator of the mid-20th century”, said the British Library. His own books for children, Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor and Letters from a Lost Uncle, as well as his illustrations for classic works of English literature, combined “technical mastery with an innate ability to evoke fear, delight and wonderment in young readers”, said the institution, and “redefined the cosy nature of children’s book illustrations”.
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