Lot 265: Bentley (Nicolas Clerihew, FRSA FSIA, 1907-1978).

Bentley (Nicolas Clerihew, FRSA FSIA, 1907-1978). A set of twenty-seven original illustrations for The Batsford Book of Light Verse for Children, edited by Gavin Ewart, pub. 1978, twenty-seven pen & ink drawings on paper, some leaves with several illusts. to a page, sheet size 280 x 210 mm (11 x 8.25 ins), together with a 1st ed. of the book for which the illustrations were drawn, in orig. boards Nicolas Bentley was a British author and illustrator, particularly known for his humorous cartoon drawings in books and magazines from the 1930s onwards. He enrolled at Heatherley's School of Fine Art, a prestigious private college, but left after a few months. However, it was around this time that he sold his first drawing to his godfather, G. K. Chesterton, and he had a number of illustrative jobs in newspapers and advertising. In 1930, Hilaire Belloc (who was a friend of his father) invited him to illustrate his book 'New Cautionary Tales'. The book was received well, and its illustrations allowed him to go f eelance. His most famous drawings were to illustrate T. S. Eliot's 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats', but he illustrated more than seventy books in the course of a long career. His favourite illustration work was for his own books and he considered himself primarily an author. On his death, Auberon Waugh wrote in 'Private Eye': "Nick was a gentle, modest, humorous man, with none of the usual characteristics of the highly individual genius which inspired his quiet professionalism and supreme technical ability." (28)