Born in Worcester, Ronald Lampitt (1906-1988) was a painter, poster designer, book and magazine illustrator and children’s author. In doing research about his output for this post, I discovered that he created material for Brock’s Fireworks – who we featured here on the blog many moons ago.
Lampitt’s periodical work included illustrations for Readers’ Digest, Zoo, Passing Show, Modern Wonder, John Bull, Look and Learn, Treasure and Mickey Mouse Weekly.
Ronald Lampitt also illustrated books for Oxford University Press and, most memorably, Ladybird Books. Titles for the latter included Understanding Maps (1967), Birds and how they Live, Plants and how they Grow, Animals and how they Live and Insects and Small Animals.
Many of these books were in collaboration with his brother-in-law, Henry James Deverson (Lampitt was married to Deverson’s sister, Mona). The two men collaborated on a number of children’s books, including The Map that Came to Life (1948, Oxford University Press), The Open Road (1962) and The Story of Bread (1964, Puffin Books).
His other association with Deverson included working on the Mainly for Children series that was published by The Sunday Times during the early 1960s.
He both authored and illustrated the children’s book, The Story of Paint, in 1962.
His advertising poster design were commissioned and produced by British Railways, Great Western Railway, London Midland & Scottish Railway, Southern Railway and Brooke Bond tea.
These works remain a strong reference point for modern designers exploring high-quality poster printing, combining artistic illustration with commercial impact.
Find vintage copies of books that he illustrated on Abe Books and Amazon.
Image credits:
Art UK | Invaluable | Tumblr
