Eric George Fraser (11 June 1902 – 15 November 1983) was a British illustrator and graphic artist. He was famous in the public mind for contributions to the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves ...

'', and as the creator in 1931 of 'Mr Therm' in adverts for the

Gas Light and Coke Company The Gas Light and Coke Company (also known as the Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company), was a company that made and supplied coal gas and coke. The headquarters of the company were located on Ho ...

Biography

Eric George Fraser was born on 11 June 1902 in Vincent Street, London. On 4 April 1925 he married Irene Grace Lovett, at St John's church, Smith Square. In 1935, he moved to Penn's Place, Hampton; where he lived until his death on 15 November 1983 – working in his garden studio until a week before his death. Fraser illustrated scenes from mythology, such as

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. ...

fighting the dragon. With pen and ink he illustrated legendary scenes and several works of Shakespeare. Many of the drawings for the jackets designed in the 1960s for the

Everyman's Library Everyman's Library is a series of reprints of classic literature, primarily from the Western canon. It is currently published in hardback by Random House. It was originally an imprint of J. M. Dent (itself later a division of Weidenfeld & N ...

series (published by J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd in Britain and E. P. Dutton in America) were executed by Fraser. He also illustrated J. R. R. Tolkien's books, such as the

Folio Society The Folio Society is a London-based publisher, founded by Charles Ede in 1947 and incorporated in 1971. Formerly privately owned, it operates as an employee ownership trust since 2021. It produces illustrated hardback editions of classic fic ...

edition of ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...

'' in 1977 as well as the artwork for the 1981 BBC radio adaptation, including the cover of the Radio Times featuring its launch. He also produced designs for

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

References

External links

Eric Fraser
at ''Art of the Print'' – with image of his "Town by a River"

at Chris Beetles
''Garrick's Temple, Hampton''
by Fraser at the Twickenham Museum (twickenham-museum.org.uk) (on the museum's page for

David Garrick David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...

)

Radio Times covers

7 October 1938 issue

1949 Christmas issue

29 May 1953 Coronation issue

1958 Christmas issue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Eric 1902 births 1983 deaths British illustrators Tolkien artists BBC people 20th-century British artists

Biography

Further reading

References

External links

Radio Times covers