Frank C. Papé

Francis Cheyne Papé (4 July 1878 – 5 May 1972), was an English artist and illustrator whose career spanned 64 years, from 1898 to 1962. Papé's work included painting using gouache, water colour, and illustration in pen and ink.

Papé illustrated many books and magazines produced in the early part of 20th century by major publishers. His work illustrated such varied writers as Homer, Suetonius, Rabelais, Spenser, Bunyon, Defoe and others.

Papé is best known for his illustrations to the books published in the 1920s by the American writer James Branch Cabell and the French writer Anatole France.

In 1921 literary critic Clement Shorter said readers of Cabell's ''Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice'' would be "enticed into the absorption of this book by the luxury of its illustration. The drawings are by Frank C. Papé and are certainly very beautiful and quaint". A 1928 review said Papé was "renowned among collectors of modern first editions for his decorations in the books of Cabell and France".

The growing "cult of Papé" resulted in a character in Alec Waugh's novel ''Kept'' (1925) referencing Papé's illustrations in Cabell's 1921 novel ''Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice'' - "For several minutes she remained bent over Pape’s illustrated ''Jurgen''. 'How good they are,' she said. 'I should doubt if an artist has ever entered more completely into the spirit of the writer...' ".

Cabell described Pape’s illustrations as "opulent in conceits and burgeons and whimseys" in the preface of the 1925 reissue of his ''Figures of Earth''.

During the second decade of the 20th century, Papé made extensive contributions to a number of collections of fairy, folk and other children's tales, as well as illustrating the Arabian Nights and a self-published collection of the Psalms.

Papé died 4 May 1972 in Bedford, Bedfordshire, Great Britain, 93 years old. Provided by Wikipedia