Pens Ink and Places

Following Words and Pictures and Beyond the Page, this third volume from acclaimed illustrator Quentin Blake contains a wealth of new material, ranging from touching series of vignettes created in a family room at Great Ormond Street Hospital to gigantic drawings for the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings; from illustrations for the somber apocalyptic landscapes of Riddley Walker to imagery for the energetic fantasy of Roald Dahl’s Billy and the Minpins. This beautiful book also includes Blake’s illustrations made to accompany the works of John Ruskin, Lucius Apuleius, and Beatrix Potter. Blake’s commentary—straight, as it were, from the drawing board—explores the challenges and opportunities of his career. It is clear from every page of this informative and richly illustrated volume that there has been no slackening of brio over the years in the scratchy pen nib of an artist who has been called the “Godfather of Illustration.”