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We’ve been spending hours & hours in the garden this past week; it’s been warm and sunny and lots of fledglings and their protective parents have been flocking to our feeders. We’ve been identifying the species and their calls; it got us thinking about the illustrations of Charles Tunnicliffe.
Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe (1901-1979) was one of the UK’s best known and loved wildlife artists. Originally from Langley near Macclesfield, where he grew up on a farm, he won a scholarship to attend the Royal College of Art. From the 1940s, for the last 35 years of his life, he worked from his studio in his home, Shorelands, located in Malltraeth, Anglesey.
We know him best as the illustrator of the “What to look for in…” series of Ladybird nature-themed children’s books. We have the full set – Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter – in our personal collection. Also in our library by him is Shorelands Summer Diary (1952) and A Sketchbook of Birds (1979).
As well as 250+ books, he illustrated a number of the RSPB member magazines. In 1995, at a Sotheby’s auction, 114 of the original artworks were sold by the charity. It raised £210,000; the most expensive lot, an illustration of a partridge, sold for £6,440.
There are a number of books by and about him available on Amazon and an array of his prints (and a couple of limited editions) for sale on eBay and Etsy.
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