Mervyn Laurence Peake's reputation during his lifetime as an outstanding illustrator of children's books is based on his illustrations for the Alice books (1946), Treasure Island (1949), and the Grimm brothers' Household Tales (1946). He is also a distinguished author and illustrator of nonsense verse and of two highly idiosyncratic illustrated stories for children, Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor (1939) and Letters from a Lost Uncle (1948). Since his death Peake's reputation as an artist has steadily grown. His Gormenghast trilogy for adults has attained the status of a classic, but little attention has been given to his writings by literary critics. While most of his works for children have been reprinted, as a writer and illustrator for children he has been almost completely neglected by the critics since his death.

Mervyn Peake was born in Kuling in central southern China in 1911. His father, Ernest Cromwell Peake, had come from Scotland as a missionary...