John Archibald Austen
Illustration — Radio Times – front cover of 1934 Easter edition John Archibald Austen (5 January 1886 in Dover, (Kent) – 27 October 1948 in Hythe, Kent) was a British book illustrator.
Also recorded as John Austen · John A. Austen
John Archibald Austen
John Austen · The infernal marriage · CC0
- Born
- 1886. · Dover.
- Died
- 1948. · Hythe.
- Nationality
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
- Occupation
- illustrator, printmaker, artist and painter.
- Fields
- visual arts.
- Languages
- English.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q6219760
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek · Getty Union List of Artist Names
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Profile
Profile
Austen moved to London in 1906, where he studied art. His early works, including an illustrated Hamlet were Beardsleyesque in style. After 1925 he was influenced by Art Deco. Books Austen illustrated in this manner include Daphnis and Chloe and a printed version of As You Like it. His work for Radio Times includes the cover of the Easter 1934 edition. Austen used several techniques in his illustrations, including wood engraving and scraperboard, and changed styles to suit the text he was illustrating. He was also involved in advertising, producing adverts, several posters & numerous dust jacket designs. He was a friend of Alan Odle and Harry Clarke and exhibited with them at the St George's Gallery in 1925.
Documentary record
John Archibald Austen, an illustrator and painter, was born on 5 January 1886 and died on 27 October 1948 in Hythe.
Works concerning him
Works concerning him
The novelist Dorothy Richardson, wrote about him in John Austen and the Inseparables (London: William Jackson, 1930). Issue 27 of The Imaginative Book Illustration Society's Studies in Illustration contains a biography and full bibliography by Martin Steenson. • Illustration — John Austen illustration for 'The infernal marriage' by Benjamin Disraeli (1929) • Illustration — John Austen illustration The Wine of Circe from 'The golden hind vol. 1 no. 2 (1923)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1886
John Archibald Austen born at Dover.
1948
John Archibald Austen died at Hythe.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Dover.
Birth place
Hythe.
Death place
Books illustrated and/or authored by him
• Ralph Holbrook Keenm, The Little Ape and Other Stories (Henderson, 1921) • Hugh L’Anson Fausset, The Condemned and The Mercy of God: Two Poems of Crisis (Selwyn & Blount, 1922) • Edward Cracroft Lefroy, Echoes from Theocritus (Selwyn & Blount, 1922) • Charles Perrault, Tales of Passed Times (Selwyn & Blount, 1922) • William Shakespeare, Hamlet (Selwyn & Blount, 1922) • Francis Lawrence Bickley, The Adventures of Harlequin (Selwyn & Blount, 1923) • Jose Maria De Eca De Queiroz, Perfection (Selwyn & Blount, 1923) • Thomas Moult (editor), The Best Poems of 1922 (Cape, 1923) • James Murray Allison, The Five Black Cousins and Other Bird Rhymes (Cape, 1924) • John Austen, Rogues in Porcelain, A Miscellany of 18th Poems (Chapman & Hall, 1924) • Benjamin Disraeli, Ixion in Heaven (Cape, 1925) • Anon, Everyman and Other Plays (Chapman & Hall, 1925) • Longus, Daphnis and Chloe (Bles, 1925) • Thomas Moult (editor), The Best Poems of 1925 (Cape, 1925) • Lord Byron, Don Juan (Bodley Head, 1926) • Anatole France, The Gods Are Athirst (Bodley Head, 1926 & 1933) • Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy (Bodley Head, 1927) • Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary (Bodley Head, 1928) • L’Abbe Prevost, Manon Lescaut (Bles, 1928) • Thomas Moult (editor), The Best Poems of 1928 (Cape, 1928) • Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders (Bodley Head, 1929) • Benjamin Disraeli, The Infernal Marriage (William Jackson, 1929) • Norman Douglas, South Wind (two volumes) (Angus Book Shop, 1929) • Thomas Moult (editor), The Best Poems of 1929 (Cape. 1929) • H. E. Bates, The Hessian Prisoner (William Jackson, 1930) • Villiers David, The Guardsman and Cupid's Daughter (Cayme Press, 1930) • William Shakespeare, As You Like It (William Jackson, 1930) • Pierre Louys, The Collected Tales of Pierre Louys (Chicago: Argus Books, 1930) • Alfred Benjamin Cooper, Poets in Pinafores: Being Nursery Rhymes Rewritten (Alston Rivers, 1931) • William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair (novel)|Vanity Fair (Limited Editions Club NY, 1931) • Dorothy Una Ratcliffe: The Gypsy Dorelia: A Pay in 3 Acts (Bodley Head, 1932) • Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Club (Limited Editions Club NY, 1933)* • C. C. & D. G., The English in Love (Secker, 1933) • C. C. & D. G., A National Gallery, Being a Collection of English Characters (Secker, 1934) • Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (NY: Heritage, 1935) • Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (Limited Editions Club NY, 1936) • Aristophanes, The Frogs (Limited Editions Club NY, 1937) (NY: Heritage, 1959) • Alaine-Rene LeSage, The Adventures of Gil Blas (Limited Editions Club NY, 1937) • John Austen, The ABC of Pen and Ink Rendering (Pitman, 1937) • Oliver Goldsmith, Oliver Wakefield (NY: Heritage, 1939) • William Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors (Limited Editions Club NY, 1939) • Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives' Tale (Limited Editions Club NY, 1941) • Frederick George Thomas, The Village (OUP, 1943) • Jane Austen, Persuasion (Avalon Press. 1946) • Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queen (two volumes) (Limited Editions Club NY, 1953)
Documentary record
The birthplace of John Archibald Austen is recorded as Kent, GB by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and as Dover by the Getty Union List of Artist Names. The death is recorded by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Getty Union List of Artist Names and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
John Austen illustration (1923)
John Austen · The wine of circe from the golden hind vol 1 no 2
Offered for sale by Abbott and Holder in September 2020 when it was described as "Pencil.
John Archibald Austen
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article John Austen (illustrator), revision 1372569339 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
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Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q6219760: John Archibald AustenWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
John Archibald Austen is recorded as illustrator, printmaker, artist and painter. East Kent regional planning scheme: final report prepared for the Joint Town Planning Committee of local authorities / by Patrick Abercrombie..
Work by John Archibald Austen is
Minneapolis Institute of Art and Bryn Mawr College Special Collections
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Prints
4,138 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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- John BantingEngraver
- John Baptist ChatelainEngraver
- John Bettes the ElderEngraver
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