Book Cover Gallery

The Circus, mock-up for a book cover, c1950. Creator: Shirley Markham

The Circus, mock-up for a book cover, c1950. Illustration for "The Circus" by E Dermot Wellington. Shirley Markham (1931-1999) studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Central School of Art in London from 1950-1952. The writer, artist, poet, and illustrator Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) was one of her tutors, and her style of drawing was also influenced by other British illustrators such as Edward Ardizzone, Quentin Blake and Edward Bawden. Markham spent time in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, and also visited Rome, sketching classical buildings. After graduating from Central, she worked as a graphic designer, producing book illustrations, cartoons for comics, menus and programmes. She gave up her promising career however when she got married in 1957. Middle-class women at that time were expected to devote their energies to bringing up children and running the home, and despite her obvious talent, she lacked the confidence to return to illustration. Her portfolio remained in the family attic for many years, but now her work is published here for the first time

© Shirley Markham Collection / Heritage-Images

Cover Design, 1895-1896. Creator: Aubrey Beardsley

Cover Design, 1895-1896. Scissors motif flanked by candelabras. Illustration for "The Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope, published privately by Leonard Smithers in 1896. Rape in this context refers not to sexual violence but to the theft and carrying away of a lock of hair, from the Latin rapere: to snatch, to grab, to carry off. From "The Best of Beardsley" edited by R. A. Walker, [The Bodley Head, London, 1948]

© Shirley Markham Collection/Heritage Images

Book jacket for "Les Rassemblements", 1896. Creator: Félix Vallotton

Book jacket for "Les Rassemblements", 1896. [Physiologies de la rue par M.M. Paul Adam, Alfred Athys, Victor Barrucand, Tristan Bernard, Leon Blum, Romain Coolus, Felix Feneon, Gustave Kahn, Ernest La Jeunesse, L, Muhlfeld, Thadee Natanson, Edmond Pilon, Jules Renard, Pierre Veber et Veek: Prologue par Octave Uzanne]

© Heritage Art/Heritage Images