Charles Henry Chapman (1879-1972), an original pen & ink car...

Estimate

£50 - £80

Charles Henry Chapman (1879-1972), an original pen & ink cartoon depicting a schoolboy receiving a caning, signed C.H. Chapman and dated 15.6.21, on a page of an autograph album, approx size 16 x 9.5cm, another contemporary comic pen & ink sketch overleaf by unknown contributor. Chapman, born in Thetford, Norfolk, was an illustrator and cartoonist best known for his work in boys' story papers such as The Magnet where the character Billy Bunter appeared. He later illustrated Bunter cartoon strips and several Bunter books published in the 1950s and 1960s. At school, Chapman created and illustrated a school magazine, The Kendrick Comet. He studied art at the University of Reading, after which he was apprenticed to an architect. He had his first drawing published in the story paper The Captain in 1900, and over the next ten years drew for story papers and comics including Marvel, Pluck, Boy's Friend, Boy's Herald, Boy's Leader, Chips, Comic Cuts, Jester and Big Budget. He was the artist of 'Ally Sloper' in Ally Sloper's Half Holiday for a brief time in 1908. From 1911 to 1940 he illustrated Charles Hamilton's Greyfriars School stories, featuring Billy Bunter, for The Magnet also drawing the magazine's covers until 1926. When the comic Knockout launched in 1938 with a Billy Bunter comic strip, Chapman drew the early installments. In the 1950s and '60s he illustrated Cassell's Billy Bunter's Own annuals. (C)