Bailey, Peter 1946-

Personal

Born 1946, in India; father a British railroad worker, mother a museum attendant; married; wife's name Sian (an illustrator). Education: Attended Brighton School of Art (now University of Brighton).

Addresses

Home—Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England.

Career

Freelance illustrator. Liverpool Art School (now Liver-pool John Moores University), Liverpool, England, instructor in illustration until 1997. Exhibitions: Work exhibited in Cardiff, Wales, 1983.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

A Scary Story, Scholastic Children's Books (London, England), 1993.

ILLUSTRATOR

Sylvia Haymon, Bonnie Prince Charlie, Macdonald (London, England), 1969.

Ronald Blythe, Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village, Allen Lane (London, England), 1969.

Joan Aiken, A Harp of Fishbones and Other Stories, Jonathan Cape (London, England), 1972.

Carolyn Sloan, Victoria and the Crowded Pocket, Longman Young Books (London, England), 1973.

Margaret Mahy, Watch Me!, Dent (London, England), 1975.

Ernest Dudley, The Badgers of Blind Dog Farm, Hart-Davis Educational (St Albans, England), 1978.

Jane Cox, Hit the Word!, Nelson (Sunbury-on-Thames, England), 1979.

Forts and Castles, Silver Burdett (Morristown, NJ), 1980.

Philip Pullman, Count Karlstein, Chatto & Windus (London, England), 1982.

Joan Aiken, Fog Hounds; Wind Cat; Sea Mice, Macmillan Children's (London, England), 1984.

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, Armada (London, England), 1987.

Alexander McCall Smith, Akimbo and the Elephants, Mammoth (London, England), 1990.

Alexander McCall Smith, Akimbo and the Lions, Methuen (London, England), 1992.

Kit Wright, Tigerella, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1993.

Pat Thomson, compiler, A Stocking Full of Christmas Stories, Corgi (London, England), 1993.

Chris Powling, compiler, Faces in the Dark: A Book of Scary Stories, Kingfisher Books (New York, NY), 1994, published as The Kingfisher Book of Scary Stories, Kingfisher (London, England), 1994.

Kit Wright, Dolphinella, Andre Deutsch Children's Books (London, England), 1995.

Philip Pullman, The Firework-maker's Daughter, Doubleday (London, England), 1995.

(With Chris Fisher) Jean Ure, Skinny Melon and Me, Collins (London, England), 1996.

Gordon Snell, Lottie's Letter, Orion Children's (London, England), 1996.

John Mole, Hot Air: Poems, Hodder Children's (London, England), 1996.

Susan Dickinson, compiler, The Sea-Baby, and Other Magical Stories to Read Aloud, Collins (London, England), 1996.

Philip Pullman, Clockwork; or, All Wound Up, Doubleday (London, England), 1996.

Robert Hull, Stargazer, Hodder Children's (London, England), 1997.

Gregory Evans, Owl in the House, Mammoth (London, England), 1997.

Joan Aiken, The Jewel Seed, Hodder Children's (London, England), 1997.

Philip Pullman, Mossycoat, Scholastic (London, England), 1998.

Tony Mitton, Plum, Scholastic (London, England), 1998.

Dick King-Smith, The Crowstarver, Doubleday (London, England), 1998.

Philip Pullman, I Was a Rat: or, The Scarlet Slippers, Doubleday (London, England), 1999.

Carol-Ann Duffy and others, Five Finger-Piglets: Poems, Macmillan Children's (London, England), 1999.

Pat Posner, Animal Stories That Really Happened, Hippo (London, England), 1999.

Linda Newbery, Star's Turn, Corgi Pups (London, England), 1999.

Geraldine McCaughrean, Too Big!, Corgi Pups (London, England), 1999.

Rose Impey, reteller, Bad Boys and Naughty Girls, Orchard Books (London, England), 1999.

Rose Impey, reteller, Ugly Dogs and Slimy Frogs, Orchard Books (London, England), 1999.

Rose Impey, reteller, Silly Sons and Dozy Daughters, Orchard Books (London, England), 1999.

Rose Impey, reteller, Cinderella; and, The Sleeping Beauty, Orchard Books (London, England), 2000.

Dick King-Smith, Spider Sparrow, Crown Publishers (New York, NY), 2000.

Tony Mitton, The Red and White Spotted Handkerchief, Scholastic (London, England), 2000.

Adélè Geras, Peas in a Pod, Corgi Pups (London, England), 2000.

(With Chris Fisher) Jean Ure, Skinny Melon and Me, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2000.

Pat Thomson, compiler, A Cauldron of Magical Stories, Corgi (London, England), 2000.

Andrew Matthews, reteller, Thumbelina; and, The Tin Soldier, Orchard Books (London, England), 2000.

Andrew Matthews, reteller, The Emperor's New Clothes; and, The Tinder Box, Orchard Books (London, England), 2000.

Andrew Matthews, reteller, Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid; and, The Princess and the Pea, Orchard Books (London, England), 2000.

Andrew Matthews, reteller, The Little Matchgirl; and, The Wild Swans, Orchard Books (London, England), 2000.

Patricia Finney, I, Jack, Corgi Yearling (London, England), 2000, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

Julie A. Stokes, The Secret C: Straight Talking about Cancer, foreword by HRH the Prince of Wales, Winston's Wish/Macmillan Cancer Relief (London, England), 2000.

Pat Thomson, compiler, A Dungeon Full of Monster Stories, Corgi (London, England), 2001.

Claire Llewellyn, What's Creepy and Crawly?, Frances Lincoln (London, England), 2001.

Tony Mitton, Pip, Scholastic (London, England), 2001.

Adrian Mitchell, Zoo of Dreams: Poems by Adrian Mitchell and Daisy, Orchard Books (London, England), 2001.

Paul May, Cat Patrol, Corgi Pups (London, England), 2001.

Rose Impey, reteller, Hansel and Gretel; and, The Princess and the Pea, Orchard Books (London, England), 2001.

Rose Impey, reteller, Jack and the Beanstalk; and The Three Wishes, Orchard Books (London, England), 2001.

Rose Impey, reteller, Rapunzel; and, Rumpelstiltskin, Orchard Books (London, England), 2001.

Claire Funge, The War Monkey, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2001.

Francis Bryan, Jim Hawkins and the Curse of Treasure Island, Orion (London, England), 2001.

Jill Bennett, Peace Begins with Me: A Collection of Poems, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2001.

Pie Corbett, Write Your Own—Thrillers, Belitha (London, England), 2001.

Pie Corbett, Write Your Own—Chillers, Belitha (London, England), 2001.

Margaret Mahy, Wonderful Me!, Dolphin (London, England), 2002.

Richard Kidd, The Tiger Bone Thief, Corgi Yearling (London, England), 2002.

Patricia Finney, Jack and Police Dog Rebel, Corgi Yearling (London, England), 2002, published as Jack and Rebel, the Police Dog, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2007.

John Foster, compiler, Moondust and Mystery: Magic Poems, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2002.

Adèlé Geras, The Gingerbread House, Barrington Stoke (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2002.

Allan Ahlberg, The Improbable Cat, Puffin (London, England), 2002, Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Fiona Waters, compiler, The Kingfisher Treasury of Magical Stories, Kingfisher (Boston, MA), 2003.

Margaret Mayo, reteller, The Giant Sea Serpent; and, The Unicorn, Orchard Books (London, England), 2003.

Margaret Mayo, reteller, The Fiery Phoenix; and, The Lemon Princess, Orchard Books (London, England), 2003.

Margaret Mayo, reteller, The Magical Mermaid; and, Kate Crackernuts, Orchard Books (London, England), 2003.

Margaret Mayo, reteller, Pegasus the Proud Prince; and, The Flying Carpet, Orchard Books (London, England), 2003.

Margaret Mayo, reteller, The Daring Dragon; and, The Kingdom under the Sea, Orchard Books (London, England), 2003.

Margaret Mayo, reteller, Unanana and the Enormous Elephant; and, The Feathered Snake, Orchard Books (London, England), 2003.

Margaret Mayo, reteller, The Incredible Thunderbird; and, Baba Yaga Bony-Legs, Orchard Books (London, England), 2003.

Margaret Mayo, reteller, The Man-eating Minotaur; and, The Magic Fruit, Orchard Books (London, England), 2003.

Brian Patten, Ben's Magic Telescope, Puffin (London, England), 2003.

Margaret Mahy, Wait for Me!, Orion Children's Books (London, England), 2003.

Richard Kidd, The Last Leg, Corgi Yearling (London, England), 2003.

Tony Mitton, The Tale of Tales, David Fickling Books (Oxford, England), 2003, David Fickling Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Philip Pullman, The Scarecrow and His Servant, Doubleday (London, England), 2004.

(With others) Once upon a Poem: Favourite Poems That Tell Stories, foreword by Kevin Crossley-Holland, Chicken House (Frome, England), 2004.

John Betjeman, John Betjeman: Selected Poems, edited by Alan Powers, Folio Society (London, England), 2004.

Pie Corbett, Write Your Own—Fantasy, Chrysalis Children's Books (London, England), 2004.

John Mole, Back by Midnight, Puffin (London, England), 2004.

Heather Dyer, The Girl with the Broken Wing, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2005.

Sally Gardner, Lucy Willow, Orion's Children's Books (London, England), 2006.

Jamila Gavin, Grandpa Chatterji, Egmont (London, England), 2006.

Jamila Gavin, Grandpa Chatterji's Third Eye, Egmont (London, England), 2006.

Alexander McCall Smith, Akimbo and the Snakes, Bloomsbury Children's (London, England), 2006.

Michael Morpurgo, Singing for Mrs. Pettigrew: A Story-Maker's Journey, Walker (London, England), 2006.

Paul Dowswell, Battle Fleet, Bloomsbury Children's Books (New York, NY), 2008.

Paul Kieve, Hocus Pocus: A Tale of Magnificent Magicians and Their Amazing Feats, Scholastic Press (New York, NY), 2008.

Sidelights

For more than three decades, Peter Bailey has been illustrating stories by some of the United Kingdom's most popular and well-respected authors. "Today, however, fewer and fewer children's novels have illustrations," Joanna Carey noted regretfully in the London Guardian, "and the very specific art of black and white line drawing seems to be in decline. But one artist who has never given up on it is Peter Bailey." Although Bailey occasionally works in color, most of his illustrations are simple yet effective pen-and-ink renderings that use line and shadow to envision and extend the story.

Bailey was born in India, where his father worked for a British railway company, but at age four his family returned to England and established a new home in London. His father took a job at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the world's largest museum devoted to decorative arts and design. Now young Bailey had special access to the collections, as well as to the museum's storage rooms and cellars, which held a treasure trove of art that included ceramics, glass, textiles, costumes, jewelry, furniture, sculpture, and art prints. He was particularly intrigued by the art students who came to the museum to practice drawing; soon he was sketching pictures in his own sketchbooks.

After studying illustration at the Brighton School of Art, Bailey worked as a freelance illustrator for five years before taking a job as an instructor in illustration at the Liverpool School of Art. While working there, he also began illustrating children's books on occasion, including his original self-illustrated picture book A Scary Story. In 1997 he left teaching to focus on his own work, and he has created artwork for dozens of texts in the years since.

Some of Bailey's first projects were illustrating texts by such respected children's authors as Joan Aiken and Margaret Mahy. In 1982, he illustrated Count Karlstein, the first story for children written by Philip Pullman, the award-winning author best known for the "His Dark Materials" fantasy trilogy. Further collaborations with Pullman include five other original fairy tales. For the British edition of Clockwork; or, All Wound Up, he employs crosshatching and other texturing techniques to underscore the sinister plot of Pullman's tale. "The tussle between good and evil certainly inspired me to see just how far I could push the extremes of dark and light," Bailey explained to Carey in the Guardian. As a result, the artist's "ink drawings have a finely etched quality that cunningly reflects the intricacy of Pullman's narrative machinery," Carey remarked.

In Pullman's The Scarecrow and His Servant, Bailey's illustrations help portray the adventures of a scarecrow

brought to life by a bolt of lightning. The book's line drawings are a charming counterpart to the tale," Deirdre F. Baker noted in Horn Book, while School Library Journal contributor Sharon Grover observed that Bailey's illustrations "provide just the right feeling of long ago that every good fairy tale deserves." The illustrator also creates an appropriately spooky atmosphere in his work for Allan Ahlberg's The Improbable Cat, the story of a sinister feline who takes over a family. A Publishers Weekly critic observed that Bailey's "crosshatch pen-and-inks nicely dramatize the enigmatic developments" of Ahlberg's story.

Bailey has also illustrated two books by Heather Dyer that involve fantastic creatures. The Fish in Room 11 involves a boy who discovers a mermaid living near the seaside hotel where he works. Here the artist's "spidery ink sketches of the pointy-nosed cast, about three per chapter, are as captivating as the story," Karin Snelson remarked in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly critic observed that "Bailey's pen-and-inks make the most of the comic moments." In Dyer's The Girl with the Broken Wing, an angel named Hilary befriends two children. Here Bailey "illustrates the animated goings-on in cheery pen-and-inks that effectively depict Hilary straddling both land and skies," a writer for Publishers Weekly wrote. Gillian Engberg concluded in Booklist that "Bailey's ink illustrations hit just the right notes of humor and old-fashioned whimsy."

Bailey shows a range of techniques in his illustrations for Tony Mitton's The Tale of Tales. When Monkey sets off to Volcano Valley to hear the Tale of Tales, he meets several animals along his journey who share stories of their own. Bailey used silhouettes to illustrate the story of the journey, while line drawings depict the animals' tales-within-the-tale. "Bailey's excellent pen-and-ink illustrations, silhouettes, and motifs decorate each page of this elegantly designed collection," Susan Hepler remarked in School Library Journal. "Bailey's striking illustrations will invite repeated viewings," a Publishers Weekly critic noted, resulting in "a book that looks and reads much like a treasure from grandmother's attic."

Discussing his work as an illustrator with Carey, Bailey noted: "I like to leave something to the imagination, and to make use of shadow and tonality rather than specific, over-representational images." Line drawing remains his favorite technique and a fine-point ink pen his tool of choice. "I like the simplicity of it, and the economy," he noted. "I like the feeling that I can sit here and create a little world with just that one fine point."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 15, 2004, Hazel Rochman, review of The Tale of Tales, p. 1443; June 1, 2004, Karin Snelson, review of The Fish in Room 11, p. 1726; Nov 1, 2005, Gillian Engberg, review of The Girl with the Broken Wing, p. 52.

Guardian (London, England), September 10, 2005, Joanna Carey, "Hatching Plots."

Horn Book, September-October, 2005, Deirdre F. Baker, review of The Scarecrow and His Servant, pp. 586-587.

Publishers Weekly, March 22, 2004, review of The Tale of Tales, pp. 85-86; May 3, 2004, review of The Fish in Room 11, p. 192; August 9, 2004, review of The Improbable Cat, p. 251; August 1, 2005, review of The Scarecrow and His Servant, p. 65; October 24, 2005, review of The Girl with the Broken Wing, p. 58.

School Library Journal, April, 2004, Susan Hepler, review of The Tale of Tales, p. 140; August, 2004, Susan Hepler, review of The Improbable Cat, p. 115; September, 2005, Sharon Grover, review of The Scarecrow and His Servant, p. 210.