Nicolas Bentley

by Nicolas Bentley, Richard Ingrams

Nicolas Bentley was a man of many parts—publisher, circus clown, film extra, novelist, mimic, journalist, fireman, poet, ad man, and commercial artist. The godson of G.K. Chesterton, he became one of Britain’s best-loved humorous cartoonists and caricaturists. Among the seventy-odd books that still carry the immortal by-line “Nicolas Bentley Drew the Pictures” are works by Hilaire Belloc, Damon Runyon, Lawrence Durrell, Kingsley Amis, and most famously, T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Here, assembled for the first time in one volume, are nearly 200 of his finest joke drawings.

160 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

Nicolas Clerihew Bentley was an English author and illustrator famous for his humorous cartoon drawings in books and magazines in the 1930s and 1940s.

Bentley was educated at University College School where he left at the age of 17. He then enrolled at Heatherley's School of Fine Art, a prestigious private college, but left after a few months.

Bentley subsequently worked for Shell for three years, but disliked working in advertising. However, in 1930, he got a break when Hilaire Belloc (who was a friend of his father) invited him to illustrate his book 'New Cautionary Tales'. The good critical reception of this book and its illustrations allowed Bentley to go freelance.

During the 1930s Bentley illustrated many books, ranging from J.B. Morton to Damon Runyon. His most famous drawings were to illustrate T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, but he illustrated more than 70 books in the course of his career, and traditionally used the byline "Nicolas Bentley drew the pictures".

In October 1934, Bentley married Barbara Hastings, daughter of the Barrister Sir Patrick Hastings.

Reviews

[Steven Heywood · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a beautiful flowing line to a lot of Bentley's work, though a lot of the cartoons are sadly dated