Best known for the Gormenghast Trilogy, Mervyn Peake, who died in 1968 and whose centenary is celebrated this year, was also an artist, an illustrator and a poet. As well as illustrating his own fiction (images 5-9), some of his finest drawings were for books by other authors. For grotesque satiric humour and Gothic sensibility he found a perfect match in Dickens, as his rather creepy illustrations for Bleak House beautifully attest.
For Carroll's Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland, he imagined a contemporary Alice who seemed younger and much livelier than Tenniel's prim Victorian miss (images 1-4).
Peake was also one of the first British civilians to witness Nazi atrocities: working as a war artist, he entered Bergen-Belsen in 1945 and produced several drawings of the dying inmates (image 10: illustrated letter to his wife). The experience left him with a profound sense of guilt for utilising such suffering in his work. His characterisation of Steerpike, the anti-hero in Gormenghast, is believed to have been influenced by the experience.
A British Library exhibition, The Worlds of Mervyn Peake, features material from its recently acquired Peake archive (including the drawings, sketches and letter below), whilst a new edition of Peake's classic trilogy contains over 100 illustrations, most of which were previously unpublished (there is also a Radio 4 serialisation). A new memoir, Under a Canvas Sky, by his daughter Clare is also published.
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- The Worlds of Mervyn Peake at the British Library until 18 September
- Visit the official Mervyn Peake website
Find the Illustrated Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake on Amazon- Find Under a Canvas Sky by Clare Peake on Amazon
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