~Richard Doyle

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Richard "Dickie" Doyle born September 1824 
and died 11 December 1883
He was a notable illustrator of the Victorian era.
His work frequently appeared, amongst other
places, in Punch magazine; he drew the cover
of the first issue, and designed the magazine's masthead,
a design that was used for over a century.

Born at 17 Cambridge Terrace, London,
one of seven children of Irish cartoonist John Doyle
(known as 'H.B'), a noted political caricaturist,
two of his brothers, James and Charles,
were also artists.
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The young Doyle had no formal art training other
than his father's studio, but from an early age
displayed a gifted ability to depict scenes of the
fantastic and grotesque. Throughout his life he
was fascinated by fairy tales.
He joined the staff of Punch in 1843 aged 19,
remaining there for seven years.
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In 1846 Doyle's illustrations for The Fairy Ring
(a new translation of Grimm's tales),
first made his name as a fairytale illustrator.
Following this in 1849 he produced
Fairy Tales from All Nations (compiled by
'Anthony R. Montalba' (i.e. Anthony Whitehall),
which proved a tremendous success.
Doyle was able to fully explore his love of fairy
mythology with his many illustrations and borders
filled with elves, pixies and other mythical creatures.
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Following this success Doyle illustrated a string
of fantasy titles: The Enchanted Doll by Mark Lemon (1849),
The Story of Jack and the Giants (1850),
and John Ruskin's The King of the Golden River (1850),
which went through three editions
in its first year of publication.
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