by John Freeman

I’ve just been catching up with some recent email and read that Pauline Baynes, whose illustrations gave life to Narnia, as well as appearing in books by J.R.R. Tolkien, Mary Norton, Richard Adams and countless others, passed away earlier this month. Writer and broadcaster Brian Sibley pays tribute to her here.

For me, Baynes’ Narnia drawings are integral to my enjoyment of the Narnia books, and my first reading of Lord of the Rings, as she provided the cover of the battered edition I still have. (I hadn’t realized until reading Sibley’s tribute that she also provided the art for the edition of Warership Down I read as a child, too).

I think some artists’ work gets so linked with a certain book it’s often a jar to see it visualised by someone else. Baynes’ work on Narnia will forever be linked to that saga for me. She’ll be much missed.

Pauline Baynes, artist and illustrator, born 9 September 1922, died 1 August 2008, aged 85

• Read Brian Sibley’s online tribute to Pauline Baynes
• Read Brian Sibley’s full obituary to Pauline in The Independent
• Read David Henshall’s obituary in The Guardian
• Read Charlotte Cory’s obituary in The Telegraph
• Read the obituary in The Times

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.

Categories: Obituaries

Tags: Narnia