Collections online - Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration

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Our work with collections

Dive into the history of illustration with digital material from museums, archives and personal collections. Explore stories about illustrators and search our database to find process drawings, posters, books and more.

We’ve just begun uploading collections from across the UK and will be adding more very soon.

This resource is generously funded by the John Ellerman Foundation.

Drawing of four people performing classical Thai dance wearing yellow, pink and orange costume

Curated stories

Drawing of four Thai dancers wearing pink, orange and yellow traditional costumes

Jacqueline Ayer

Picture books, textiles and drawings made in Thailand in the 1950s and 60s.

Jo Brocklehurst

Documentary drawing of the punks, fetishists, actors, dancers and club-goers of Berlin, London and New York

Picturebooks

Browse our collection of lithographic children’s books published in the 1920s and 30s

Dve sobaki [Two Dogs]Vera Ermolaeva
Ivan Krylov1930

Raznye Zveri [Different Beasts]Evgenii Charushin1931

Zagadki [Riddles]Lev Mordvinov1929

Teremok [The cabin]Evgenii Charushin
Vitalii Bianki1931

Snezhnaia kniga [The Snow Book]Nikolai Tyrsa
Vitalii Bianki1926

Search illustration collections

We are regularly adding new material to this database, but it will take time to build it up.

Can’t find what you’re looking for, or have a query about something you’ve found? Email us collections@qbcentre.org.uk.

Illustration of a river with greenery on its banks and a person lying on a floating raft and the words 'And then Barnaby drifted all the way back home, pleased with his good day's work'

Quentin Blake collection

Quentin’s archive of original illustrations, designs, dummy books and paintings is pledged to us.

A yellowed sheet with a column of printed illustrations of animals and people alongside a column of descriptions showing the key letters and sounds, including an image of a crow with the words 'The Crow crieth'

Illustration glossary

Browse our guide to illustration-related terms, from ‘abstract’ to ‘zine’.

About collections

We work with museums, archives and personal collections to research and share the history of illustration.

With thanks to the collections and copyright holders who have allowed us to share their material.

This resource has been made possible with generous support from the John Ellerman Foundation.

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Raymond Briggs: A Retrospective

Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft 27 April to 27 October 2024

Illustrations by the graphic novelist and picturebook maker – on tour across the UK.

Illustration of an owl and a cat sitting in a small boat with sails, there are some ripples in the water around the boat. Some stars and the moon are in the background. The owl is playing a small guitar, and the cat is looking into the distance with its head resting on one of its paws.

Quentin Blake: Illustrating Verse

Lighthouse, Poole Centre for the Arts 29 September 2023 to 6 January 2024

Illustrations for poems by Edward Lear, Sylvia Plath, Michael Rosen and more – on tour across the UK.

Illustration of a busy landscape full of trees, bushes, leaves, and vines, with two children standing on a tree trunk to the left of a circular opening in the vegetation. The child on the right is holding back some branches and they are both looking into the opening where you can see in the distance is a silhouette of a green ship.

Quentin Blake: Book Covers

Rugby Art Gallery and Museum 10 February to 11 May 2024

Seven decades of design, from iconic Penguin paperbacks to fine editions – on tour across the UK.