Authors Electric

I was stuck for a topic for this month’s blog until I read Griselda Heppel’s article on woodcuts (published 1 st November). Her blog reminded me of how important illustrations were for me as a young reader – for all young readers I imagine. Even now, I adore illustrated books. A few years ago I purchased a book called Waterlife , which is purely illustrations. It’s a treasured possession. Few novels, besides specifically graphic novels (which have become quite popular) are illustrated. 19 th century novels often contained illustrations but that has gone out of fashion. Now, only a handful of fiction books for adults have illustrations. Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy contains a small number. The Hobbit includes illustrations but Tolkien had trouble persuading his publisher to include his drawing of the The Book of Mazarbul in his Lord of the Rings trilogy. In fact it was not included in the first edition. The Silmarillion was illustrated but Tolkein did not live to see it in pr...