Fontana Cover Cavalcade: John Keay

I know little about John Keay and what is known is confused by the fact that there have been two artists by the same name. I think - but I'm not 100% sure - that the artist who contributed to Fontana was known as Jack Keay but was born John Edwin Keay in Kings Norton in 1907 and died in London in 1996. He was represented by Linden Artists and Thomson Artists.

Then there was a second artist by the name of John R. Keay represented by John Martin & Artists who did various series for Look and Learn in the late 1970s, his work often to be found on the inside front cover on series like 'This Made Headlines' and 'Dateline'.

If anyone has any further information that might help me separate out the two, please let me know. In the meantime, here are a few of Jack Keay's covers for you to enjoy.

Cat by Val Gielgud
Fontana Books 439, 1960

Head of a Traveller by Nicholas Blake
Fontana Books 621, 1961

Crime and Again by Rex Stout
Fontana Books 629, 1962

The Other Side of the Coin by Pierre Boulle
Fontana Books 658, 1962

Fontana Cover Cavalcade: John Rose

John Rose was a regular cover artist for Fontana, one of the most prolific in the early days of the company in 1953-56, although he continued to provide covers until at least 1961 and possibly 1962. He was responsible for providing covers to many of Fontana's major writers, including Agatha Christie, Peter Cheyney, Howard Spring and Eric Williams as well as the religious writings of C. S. Lewis.

He also contributed covers to Digit Books (1963), Consul Books (1964) and possibly Corgi Books in the late 1960s.

Rose was born in Yorkshire in the 1920s and I know very little about his career other than that he spent 30 years illustrating books. In the late 1960s his career took a dramatic turn when he was asked by Stanley Kubrick to produce conceptual art for 2001: A Space Odyssey. He subsequently worked as an illustrator on such films as Nijinsky (starring Alan Bates, 1980), Supergirl (1984), Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter (1990) and In Love and War (1996).

He was the storyboard artist on Give My Regards to Broad Street (starring Paul McCartney, 1984), Sky Bandits (1986), Death Train (starring Pierce Brosnan and based on a story by Alistair MacLean, 1993), First Knight (1995), Jane Eyre (1996) and 101 Dalmations (starring Glenn Close, 1996), Prince Valiant (1997).

Some of his finest work is said to have been for films that never saw the light of day, including a movie storyboarded for David Lean (possibly Nostromo) and a version of Moby Dick which was to have starred Sean Connery as Captain Ahab.

The little gallery below shows how diverse his work was for Fontana.

The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
Fontana Books 49R, 1955

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis
Fontana Books 50R, 1955

Bland Beginning by Julian Symons
Fontana Books 72, 1955

Play a Lone Hand by Luke Short
Fontana Books 103, 1956

RIP by John Macdonald
Fontana Books 382, 1960

My Son, My Son by Howard Spring
Fontana Books 760, 4th imp., 1962 [possibly same cover as Fontana 59, 1955]

Screwtape Proposes a Toast, and other pieces by C. S. Lewis
Fontana Books 1074R, 1965 [same cover (with different colouring) as Fontana 49R]

Fontana Cover Cavalcade: Eileen Walton

Today's Fontana Cover Cavalcade is an Eileen Walton special. It's unfortunate that nothing seems to be known about the talented Ms. Walton; she was a prolific cover artist for Fontana around 1960-61 and produced two known covers for Digit Books in 1963-64. Jamie Sturgeon (whose name pops up regularly here on Bear Alley), has a flickr gallery of some of Eileen Walton's dustjacket artwork from various hardcover publishers, including Arthur Barker (fl. 1960-61), Hammond Hammond (fl. 1963), Jarrolds (fl. 1964-65) and Robert Hale (fl. 1965-91).

Beyond her covers, the only thing known about Eileen Walton is that she is the sister of Barbara Walton, another talented book cover artist who has worked for Collins (fl. 1960-69), John Long (fl. 1962-68), Robert Hale (fl. 1963-2006), W. H. Allen (fl. 1964-66) and Ward Lock (fl. 1967-68). Jamie's flickr gallery for Barbara Walton can be found here.

The Foolish Gentlewoman by Margery Sharp
Fontana Books 420, 1960. Cover by Eileen Walton

If Death Ever Slept by Rex Stout
Fontana Books 454, 1960. Cover by Eileen Walton

The Stone of Chastity by Margery Sharp
Fontana Books 532, 1961. Cover by Eileen Walton

Dunkerleys by Howard Spring
Fontana Books 588, 2nd imp., 1961. Cover by Eileen Walton

The Notorious Lady Castlemain by Olivia Leigh
Digit Books R664, 1963. Cover by Eileen Walton

Fontana Cover Cavalcade day 2

Here's a second small batch of Fontana covers, recent additions for previous galleries featuring the works of Alistair MacLean and Ngaio Marsh.

South by Java Head by Alistair MacLean
Fontana Books 457, 1961. Cover by John L. Baker

Surfeit of Lampreys by Ngaio Marsh
Fontana Books 538, 1961.

Fear is the Key by Alistair MacLean
Fontana Books 790, 1963. Cover by John L. Baker?

Fontana Cover Cavalcade

Digging around the internet in my hunt for covers for the Peter Cheyney (and, some while back, the Agatha Christie) cover gallery, I grabbed a few additional covers from various Fontana paperbacks. With luck and a good tail wind, I'll post a few of them over the next few days.

First up, four from Laurence Meynell, a prolific crime writer who also wrote children's books. There's a good biographical sketch about Meynell's career here and a list of his crime novels here should you want to find out more about him.

The Frightened Man
Fontana Books 194,  1957

The Man No One Knew
Fontana Books 294, 1959

Danger Round the Corner
Fontana Books 376, 1960. Cover by John L. Baker

The Abandoned Doll
Fontana 684, 1962. Cover by John L. Baker