"Conte De Noel", Charles Dickens, illustrations by A.Pecoud (Paris 1952) Part 2

And here are some of the many black and white illustrations from this book.

Just a Christmas card - unpublished

This is one I've made for myself - it took so long to finish I had no time to print or post it to anyone! Oh well... I'd better be more organized for next Christmas. Enjoy.

"Conte De Noel", Charles Dickens, illustrations by A.Pecoud (Paris 1952)

Can't remember when or where I bought this one but it's worth every penny I spent (hasn't helped my French though). Just brilliant illustrations for a well known story! Very seasonal as well. I will also post the black and white illustrations from this book - they are so good. I don't know much about this French illustrator (I'm ashamed to say) and he hasn't even got a mention on Wikipedia but he must have been very popular in the later part of the 20th century as a lot of his books turn up when you search on Google.

"Great Commercial Disasters" Stephen Winkworth, illustratated by Michael ffolkes (Macmillan London Limited 1980)

Great characters drawn from the world of business and finance. Michael ffolkes (real name Brian Davis, 1925-1988) was one of the most famous and flamboyant cartoonists of his time, working for Punch and The Daily Telegraph among others from the late 1940ies until his death. Here's a link on his biography: http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/artists/briandavis/biography

"Where's Tim's Ted?" Ian Whybrow, illustrated by Russell Ayto - PART 2

One more picture of all the great characters by Russell Ayto. You can view some more of his work on this previous post as well: http://picturesfromanoldbook.blogspot.com/2010/04/fat-cat-by-james-sage-and-russell-ayto.html

"Where's Tim's Ted?" Ian Whybrow, illustrated by Russell Ayto (HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, London 1999)

Another great children's book by Whybrow and Ayto - quirky, funny and, as always, implausible! The characters are so well designed, beautifully drawn and lovable. The craftsmanship, originality and richness in Ayto's work is unlike anything else available in the bookshops these days.

These rhyming lines are such a pleasure to read to a child - as I had to, dozens of times for my daughter. There's always something new each time you open the book that you hadn't spotted before!

"The Frog Prince Continued" paintings by Steve Johnson - Part 2

A few more from Steve Johnson's dark and wonderful pictures - the book has fallen to pieces after scanning! I wish I had more information to give on this artist.

CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED 1 - "Crime and Punishment" (Unknown artist)

Classic, stylish and powerful - these drawings have been with me, inspiring me since childhood. Plenty more to show from this collection...

"The Frog Prince Continued" by Jon Scieszka, paintings by Steve Johnson (Penguin Books Ltd, London 1991)

Weird and wonderful interpretation of the Frog Prince story (or rather what might have happened after the Princess' marriage to the frog - which could, sadly, apply to most marriages once the spells wear off...). There's a bit of "Hansel and Gretel" and "Cinderella" thrown in for good measure. Scieszka went on to write "The Stinky Cheese Man" which also makes fun out of fairy tales and traditional stories but what impressed me most about this book were the outstanding pictures by Steve Johnson. So much work must have gone into these illustrations! Every little detail and every character have been so meticulously worked out. The colours and composition are amazing and there are so many puns and jokes hidden in the pictures you can see something new each time you look at them. I could find nothing else by Steve Johnson - I hope he's still creating great pictures like these.

"Fairy Gold", Ruth Ainsworth, Illustrations by Barbara Hope Steinberg (publ. by William Heinemann, London 1972)

Just a few of the 60 fantastic b/w illustrations in this book.