Giles original cartoon rubs shoulders with Graham Illingworth print, a Doctor Who film poster and more in latest Stroud Auctions sale

By John Freeman on January 4, 2023

A limited edition print, titled “Cementing an Alliance” by Graham Illingworth, is among the items in an upcoming sale of toys, vinyl records, musical instruments, prints, paintings, and more from Stroud Auctions.

Among the lots, too, is an original cartoon by Carl Giles (known as, simply, “Giles”), an LS Lowry limited print, Beryl Cook prints, a wide variety of art, British comics (including a job lot of Lion, Buster, Warlord and Victor comics), film posters and much more.

Check out the full catalogue and register to bid on The-Saleroom.

The reclusive Graham Illingworth, who was born in 1953, is one of the UK’s premier illustrative, fantastical artists, whose intricate illustrations are both beautifully coloured and thoroughly imagined. His mystical style is partly inspired by North Yorkshire’s own City of York. His work is still widely collected, with particular images having become really quite rare.

Originally published in the Sunday Express on 6th April 1969 the Giles cartoon on offer, with the caption “Let’s get one of these bloody planes up in the air and catch up on some sleep”, was gifted by Giles to Sir Keith Granville, Chairman of BOAC.

Giles, 9th April 1989 - original art. The caption to this Giles cartoon reads: "Let's get one of these bloody planes up in the air and catch up on some sleep” — *The caption to this Giles cartoon reads: “Let’s get one of these bloody planes up in the air and catch up on some sleep”*

From 1943 through to his retirement in 1991, cartoonist Carl Giles was, by and large, Express Newspaper’s greatest asset. As Dr Tim Benson has previously noted, those who regularly read the Daily and Sunday Express during those years would often make a bee line straight for the Giles cartoon, deliberately prioritising it over the paper’s other news stories and features. According to one commentator, “His oblong space in the Express newspapers became a window into which the British public peered day after day to see themselves, reacting to history through more humorous, more tender and infinitely more sensitive eyes.”

Beatles NEMS scrapbook with colour magazine poster pages and black and white clippings, contents c1963/1964

'Dr Who and the Daleks, now on the big screen' in colour' film or movie poster, 68 x 90.5cm, in stained wood frame

Other items include a variety of British, American and independent comics and graphic novels; a Dr Who and the Daleks film poster; a Beatles NEMS scrapbook with colour magazine poster pages and black and white clippings, contents circa 1963/1964; rare punk rock singles; camera equipment, and a Red Bakelite telephone; Japanese watercolours; a rare Saalheimer & Co Salco 1940’s diecast model Disney Mickey and Minnie Mouse barrel organ musical box; a variety of Star Wars toys, in numerous lots; Airfix and Corgi model kits; and even a rare “Penny Black” stamp, from 1840.

Something for almost everyone, then!

• Stroud Auctions – Toys, vinyl records, musical instruments, Asian & tribal art, pictures & paintings, books, ephemera & stamps | 11th – 12th January 2023, Stroud Auctions Ltd., Stroud, Gloucestershire |

• Graham Illingworth prints at Gallery 42

• Carl Giles archive at the British Cartoon Archive

• The Cartoon Society: Carl Giles, Britain’s Greatest Social Cartoonist

With thanks to Mark Warby

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.