Famous Book Illustrators.

The artists who illustrated famous books became in many cases, inseparable from the authors themselves. The classic example being Gustav Dore, whose woodcuts for "Don Quixote" became so legendary that they have been collected together in a book of their own.

Then there is George Cruikshank, who illustrated "Grimm's Fairy Tales" & many other notable books. Arthur Rackham's illustrations for the above book & copious output put him among the all time greats. Ernest Shepard, the "Punch" cartoonist, became more famous as the picturiser of "Winnie the Pooh", much to his discomfiture.

His daughter Mary, illustrated the "Mary Poppins" books, pleasing even the

fastidious author, P. L. Travers, who harassed Walt Disney for 20 years & even then was dissatisfied with his film, which however found universal acclamation.

Foremost among these Illustrators is Sir John Tenniel, whose pictures for the Lewis Carroll oeuvre are immortal. Among the later ones is Inga Moore, who inspired by the Impressionists, illustrated memorable editions of "The Wind in the Willows" & "The Secret Garden" among others.

Not to be forgotten are the two authors who illustrated their own best selling books, Antoine de Saint-Exupery his "The Little Prince" & Beatrix Potter her "Peter Rabbit". 

Driven by the recent spectacular advances in colour  printing technology, many later artists like Anna Bond (Alice) & Guiliano Ferri (Aesop) have also illustrated many books in a contemporary, if quirky way.