EXTRACTS: Illustrators Issue 6 © 2013 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

66 ABOVE AND FACING PAGE: It was inevitable that with the launch of Amalgamated Press/ Fleetway’s mass circulation war pocket libraries, their editors would want to secure the talents of Coton as one of their première cover artists. The opportunity to concentrate more on his painting chimed well with the artist’s increasing desire to liberate himself from the never ending grind of comic strip work. in true Bohemian style. He and Beryl had their first child, Neil, but they worked non-stop in order to buy a house of their own. Their first move was to Crawley in West Sussex, where a second son, Angus, was born. Beryl was about to give birth to their third and last child, Hilary, when in the mid 1950s they found the house of their dreams; the family home they had been after for so long. Situated in a leafy lane on a hill towards the cliffs at Fairlight near Hastings, it was a large Arts and Crafts building, designed by Edward Lutyens, with ‘1939’ inscribed in stone on the front lintel. The house, known as ‘Dower Cottage’, had a large landscaped garden of over an acre that included a tennis court and a bowling green. Hilary describes her childhood there in idyllic terms: “Our home life was great fun and never dull. It was rare indeed when the house only had family members in it. My parents loved to party, with the great and famous mixed with students, foreigners, artists, film producers, actors, musicians, and models.” A friend of the family and one of Coton’s life models, writes fondly of her memories of life at Dower Cottage: “Graham and Beryl seemed to keep an open house policy, which resulted in a myriad of different and interesting people from all walks of life being in the house most weekends. All images © IPC Media with thanks to the Illustration Art Gallery