Saturday, April 26, 2008

Fred Banbery


Fred Banbery
Illustrator
Born 1913 - Died 1999

I'm unable to find out much information on Banbery except that he drew Paddington Bear illustrations at some point. If anyone knows anything more about Banbery please let me know. His excellent drawings for three of the Alfred Hitchcock books for young readers show him to be a mature illustrator with a contemporary style. These pencil drawings are from Alfred Hitchcock Solve-Them-Yourself Mysteries, published in 1963, and are the most spontaneous of the Banbery-illustrated books I own. Banbery had fun with drawings featuring Hitchcock himself, and the last illustration is the dust jacket for a 1959 compilation of mystery and suspense stories under Hitchcock's name. I will be showing illustrations by Banbery from other Hitchcock anthologies in the future.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Gustaf Tenggren


Gustaf Tenggren
Illustrator
Born 1896 - Died 1970

We have posted one entry on Tenggren already. You can access it here.

This version of the Grimm Brothers tale, The Golden Goose, was published as a Little Golden Book, ©1954 Simon and Schuster. It was written amd illustrated by Tenggren. As one of three sons of a woodchopper, Dummling is the only one to share his meal with a little old man. Dummling is given a golden goose as a reward. Three innkeeper's daughters try to each take a feather, but find themselves stuck to one another. Very soon there is a procession of people stuck to each other. A princess who has not laughed or smiled in three years sees the procession and it sends her into a spell of laughter. Her father, the king, had promised her hand in marriage and half the kingdom to anyone who could make her smile or laugh. Dummling gets the princess and half of the kingdom.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

















Sunday, April 13, 2008

J. P. Miller


John Parr Miller
American Illustrator

Born 1913 - Died 2004

J. P. Miller was an illustrator whose work lives on in the memories of generations of Americans who read and loved Little Golden Books. This particular book with its wonderful and funny pictures, Little Peewee or, Now Open The Box was written by Dorothy Kunhardt in 1934, but illustrated by Miller as a Little Golden Book in 1948.


Click on the pictures for full-size images.