F. A. Williams contributed a couple of illustrations and a comic strip to Lion Annual 1956 and then seemingly vanished from human ken. Where he came from or where he went to nobody knows. Spooky stuff at this Halloween time of year!
I have been trying to get info on F.A. Williams for years. While the signature on you elephant image is the same, my examples are from many years earlier as the illustrator of "The Robber Kitten" (Blackie & Son) I also have a small watercolor of a sailing vessel dated 1883. Several other books from Blackie also use F.A.Williams illustrations. Could the cartoon from the 50's be an elephant drawn thirty years earlier?
It's more likely that an 1883 painting would be very early work and the 1955 annual appearance was very late in his career. I've found a few credits for Williams: Happy Hearts, ed. Harry Golding (London & Melbourne, Ward Lock & Co., 1909), Dr Owl's Academy, verse by Jessie Pope (London, Blackie & Co., 1911), The Three Little Kittens by R. M. Ballantyne (London, Blackie & Co., 1925) and the Daily Mail Blue Spot Annual (London, Associated Newspapers, n.d. but late 1950s).
Other than that, Williams is still a little known artist
I have been trying to get info on F.A. Williams for years. While the signature on you elephant image is the same, my examples are from many years earlier as the illustrator of "The Robber Kitten" (Blackie & Son) I also have a small watercolor of a sailing vessel dated 1883. Several other books from Blackie also use F.A.Williams illustrations. Could the cartoon from the 50's be an elephant drawn thirty years earlier?
ReplyDeleteHi Rob,
ReplyDeleteIt's more likely that an 1883 painting would be very early work and the 1955 annual appearance was very late in his career. I've found a few credits for Williams: Happy Hearts, ed. Harry Golding (London & Melbourne, Ward Lock & Co., 1909), Dr Owl's Academy, verse by Jessie Pope (London, Blackie & Co., 1911), The Three Little Kittens by R. M. Ballantyne (London, Blackie & Co., 1925) and the Daily Mail Blue Spot Annual (London, Associated Newspapers, n.d. but late 1950s).
Other than that, Williams is still a little known artist