For all the pleasure gained from reading BB's childrens' stories and his outstanding descriptive writing where nature and the countryside are concerned, it is widely recognised that it is the unique quality of his illustrative skill that provides some of the most exquisite enjoyment of his work. Although he was no mean artist using watercolour and the occasional oils, he was perhaps at his happiest when etching or drawing. His distinctive and highly evocative scraperboard illustrations were to become his hallmark.
The ilustrations shown here give a tiny sample of some of his full page drawings and paintings as well as showing some examples of his 'Headpieces' and 'Tailpieces' often used to start and end chapters of his books, many of which pictures are miniature masterpieces in themselves.
Click on an illustration to enlarge it and use the arrow keys to scroll through them
