Harold Robert Millar
, 1869 - 1942
H. R. Millar (1869–1942) was a celebrated and prolific Scottish graphic artist and illustrator in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He is celebrated for his illustrations of children’s books and fantasy literature.
Millar was a resident of Dumfriesshire and began his career in civil engineering but then decided to become an artist. He studies at the Wolverhampton Art School and the Birmingham School of Art establishing himself as a magazine illustrator with periodicals such as Punch, Good Words as well as illustrating anthologies of fables for the Strand Magazine. Millar also illustrated anthologies of tales such as The Golden Fairy Book, The Silver Fairy Book, The Diamond Fairy Book, and The Ruby Fairy Book.
Millar illustrated books for various authors including Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Rudyard Kipling. He also had a strong working relationship with E. Nesbit and is considered the most talented of her illustrators. Millar did not limit himself to children’s books and fantasy but illustrated the books of Kate Lawson’s Highways and Homes of Japan (1910) as well as Artur Radcliff Dugmore’s African Jungle Life (1928). Miller was a collector of Eastern Art and exotic and ancient weapons and this interest influenced his artwork.
Sources:
Marcus Crouch, Treasure Seekers and Borrowers Children’s Book in Britain, 1900–1960, London: The Library Association, 1962, 15;
Wikipedia (accessed: January 13, 2022).
Bio prepared by Beverley Beddoes-Mills, independent researcher, beverleym@bigpond.com
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