Edward Bawden was a versatile artist. In a career spanning six decades, he designed and illustrated book jackets, brochures, magazine covers and adverts. He also created charming children’s books about anthropomorphic insects, produced vast linocuts of Victorian landmarks and painted portraits of people he met while working as a war artist in Africa and the Middle East.

Bawden’s work was diverse. He worked in colour and black and white, with inks, paints and linocut, and could turn his hand to a range of subjects. He illustrated tales of Norman conquests and epic adventures and created covers for fantastical tales by Roald Dahl as well as novels by Aldous Huxley, Graham Greene and Iris Murdoch.