EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 14 © 2016 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

62 his Hollywood experiences, titled ‘My Five Months in Hollywood’, published the year of the film’s release. I first came across the art of Maurice Leloir in a copy of ‘The Three Musketeers’ in the library of Leonard Matthews, erstwhile editor-in-chief of Juvenile Publications at Fleetway House. He himself had scripted picture stripversions ofDumas’ tale for threepublications under his control, as well as overseeing all the Musketeer tales in the Thriller Comics Library . Looking at these illustrations, it immediately became apparent to me that Leonard had used Leloir’s pictures to inspire his artists. It was not long before I had acquired the two volume 1894 English Edition de Luxe limited edition of “750 Numbered Copies, and 25 Unnumbered Copies, for the United Kingdom and the British Colonies”. Not long after, the same friend who had purchased these volumes for me came across another Leloir-illustrated book, set in the same period but this time lavishly illustrated in ABOVE: Leloir's depiction of Alexandre Dumas, one of 250 illustrations that he produced for the two volume edition of 'The Three Musketeers". ABOVE RIGHT: Leloir's mastery of recreating moments from history is well to the fore in this spread from 'Le Roy Soleil'. RIGHT PAGE: A visceral fight to the death from 'The Three Musketeers' is neatly contrasted with Leloir's attention to period furnishing. His sublime figurework was complimented by his ability to create entirely convincing environments.