Harold Robert Millar (1869–1942) was a prominent and prolific Scottish graphic artist and illustrator of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is best known for his illustrations of children's books and fantasy literature.[1] "His work...has a lively, imaginative charm and a distinctive sense of design."[2]

H. R. Millar
Born
Harold Robert Millar

1869 (1869)
Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
Died1942 (aged 72–73)
NationalityScottish
Known forChildren's Literature

Life and work

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"A Centurion of the Thirtieth" from Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill (1906)

A native of Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, Millar first pursued civil engineering before deciding upon an artistic career.[3] He then studied at the Wolverhampton Art School and the Birmingham School of Art and established his career as a magazine illustrator with Punch, Good Words, and other periodicals of the day.

Millar illustrated fables for the Strand Magazine, and anthologies of tales, The Golden Fairy Book, The Silver Fairy Book, The Diamond Fairy Book, and The Ruby Fairy Book. He illustrated books by a wide range of British authors of his time, including Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Rudyard Kipling. He had an extensive working relationship with E. Nesbit, and has been called "the most sympathetic and perhaps the most talented of her illustrators."[4]

Apart from fantasy and children's books, Millar drew pictures for works like Kate Lawson's Highways and Homes of Japan (1910) and Arthur Radclyffe Dugmore's African Jungle Life (1928). Millar was a noted collector of Eastern art and exotic and ancient weapons; he employed his interest and knowledge in these areas in his artwork.

A partial list of the books Millar illustrated includes:

References

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  1. ^ Prickett, Stephen (2005). Victorian Fantasy (Second ed.). Waco, TX: Baylor University Press. pp. xi, 221, 222. Retrieved 20 November 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ John Clute and John Grant, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, New York, Macmillan, 1999; p. 646.
  3. ^ Doyle, Brian, ed. (1968). The Who's Who of Children's Literature. New York: Schocken Books. pp. 338–339. Retrieved 20 November 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ Crouch, Marcus (1962). Treasure Seekers and Borrowers: Children's Books in Britain, 1900–1960. London: The Library Association. p. 15. Retrieved 20 November 2023 – via Internet Archive.
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