1932 Tales From The Arabian Nights - Intro by Emily Overend Lorimer (illustrated by Gordon Nicoll) Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press. Hardback wear to spine but good solid book. Beautifully illustrated by Gordon Nicoll very collectible artist.
Gordon Nicoll – Illustrator (1888–1959)
Gordon Nicoll was a British painter and illustrator, active from the 1920s through the 1950s.
Born in London in 1888, he studied at Southampton School of Art and later at the Hornsey School of Art, where he was taught by Frank Hillyard Swinstead. He became a member of the London Sketch Club, a hub for professional illustrators and commercial artists of the period.
Throughout the inter-war years, Nicoll established himself as a professional illustrator and commercial artist, producing work for magazines, promotional material, and early travel advertising. In 1932 he produced one of his most substantial book projects, illustrating Tales from the Arabian Nights (Oxford University Press), which includes 12 colour plates and a number of black-and-white drawings.
Nicoll served as a camouflage officer in the Air Ministry during the Second World War, after which he returned to commercial illustration. His post-war work is especially associated with railway and travel posters for LNER and British Railways, including well-known poster designs such as Visit London — Coronation Year (1953), Stratford-upon-Avon, and a number of coastal and countryside scenes.
Nicoll’s style combines clear draughtsmanship with decorative compositions and vivid atmospheric qualities, reflecting both his training as a landscape painter and his experience designing for print and reproduction.
He continued working until his death in 1959.
