Pauline Baynes and Painting Wonder

Katie Wray Schon joins us to talk about Pauline Baynes, the subject of her new book, Painting Wonder! 

It's been a long-held goal of this podcast to devote at least one episode to Pauline Baynes--who, while not an Inkling, illustrated both the Narnia chronicles and many of Tolkien's short stories--in addition to being one of the best illustrators of the 20th Century.

Luckily, Katie Wray Schon has just written and published a children's picture book about Baynes' life, and she joins me to talk about both her work and Baynes'. We talk about Baynes' life--her childhood in India, her discovery of storybooks at dreary British boarding school, her work for the British Navy in WWII, and her career as an illustrator.

Sadly, many of the non-Narnian books Baynes illustrated or created are now out of print or hard to obtain. They include, but aren't limited to:

I Believe: The Nicene Creed

Noah and the Ark

Questionable Creatures: A Bestiary

Good King Wenceslas

A Dictionary of Chivalry, by Grant Uden

Miracle Plays: Seven Medieval Plays for Modern Players, by Anne Malcolmson

All Things Bright and Beautiful

The Arabian Nights, by Amabel Williams-Ellis

The Snail and the Caterpillar, by Helen Piers

Let There Be Light

It would be a worthy project for someone (perhaps a new small press, or even an old, big one) to begin publishing these books again. 

In the meantime, of course, pick up Katie Wray Schon's book!

Thanks for listening, as always! We'll see you again in two weeks!

To drop me a note or an episode suggestion, write inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com

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We've (okay, I've) got a lot more fantastic episodes coming this season, including:

• Leaf by Niggle with Ned Bustard and Matt Wheeler
• The Abolition of Man: A Roundtable Discussion
• Lilith, by George MacDonald
• The Oxford History of English Literature (O-HEL Yes!) with Katherine Wyma
• That Hideous Strength with Joseph Weigel
• Tolkien's Poetry, with Jonathan Geltner
• Choose-Your-Own-Adventure 80's Narnia Book (That's right), with Matt Wheeler

And quite a bit more, but I am tired of listing things...