The British Library acquired the Mervyn Peake Visual Archive in 2020. To accompany its huge Fantasy exhibition, the Library is staging a relatively small and FREE display in the Entrance Hall showcasing 20 or so of Peake’s wonderful book illustrations.
Portrait of Mervyn Peake © The Mervyn Peake Estate
The display is titled ‘The Fantastical World of Mervyn Peake: Islands and Seas’ and does what it says on the tin, consisting of 20 or so display boards each one with a full-size illustration of a story about the sea, either from a classic text such as Treasure Island or from one of the many stories which Peake wrote himself.
In this early seascape minutely detailed islands and a whale teeter atop titanic waves in a sort of comic pastiche of the famous Wave by Japanese artist Hokusai. The combination of clarity of line with absurdist details reminds me of Heath Robinson.
Floating islands on the waves by Mervyn Peake © The Mervyn Peake Estate
There are illustrations from an unpublished book he worked on with a friend, Gordon Smith – Smith wrote nonsense rhymes which Peake then illustrated, both vying to create the most fantastical creatures which slowly became the outlandish inhabitant of an island where their hero has been shipwrecked.
Just before the Second World War, Peake published a book with the great title Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor (1939). The hero starts out as a typically swashbuckling pirate but eventually gives up pirating to live quietly on an island with the Yellow Creature, who he met on his travels.
A first edition of ‘Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor’ by Mervyn Peake (1939) © The Mervyn Peake Estate
Peake had a lifelong love of pirate stories, not least the godfather of them all, i. He read it again and again as a boy growing up in distant China. Following a highly successful illustration of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he was commissioned to produce illustrations for a new edition, which he worked on between 1947 and 1949.
These are masterpieces. The simple flat blocks of black or white which we saw in the wave drawing has evolved into something completely different, a masterly use of drawing techniques such as cross-hatching, stippling and shading, to create fantastically evocative images.
Long John Silver by Mervyn Peake © The Mervyn Peake Estate
The last selection in this little display, though far from Peake’s final work, is some images from his edition of Johann Wyss’s classic adventure story, The Swiss Family Robinson (c.1950).
This small display is probably only worth making the pilgrimage to the British Library for if you’re a real Peake devotee. But if you’re visiting the Library’s massive Fantasy exhibition, you should make a point of including these lovely treasures in your visit.
Related links
- The Fantastical World of Mervyn Peake: Islands and Seas continues at the British Library until 25 February 2024
- Page about Peake’s illustrations on the Mervyn Peake website
- Full list of books written and illustrated by Mervyn Peake
- A website which appears to have scanned every one of Peake’s Treasure Island illustrations
Books & Boots 