| Admin History | George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (1834-1896) was a well-known illustrator and novelist. Born in Paris, he moved to London with the rest of his family in 1851, where he originally studied chemistry, followed by opera-singing and then art in Paris. He eventually returned from his studies abroad in 1860, becoming quickly established as a magazine illustrator, working for both 'Once a Week' and 'Punch' as a cartoonist. He married Emma Wightwick in 1863, and rapidly formed part of the Bohemian Hampstead circle. Friends of the family included Kate Greenaway, Sir Walter Besant, John Millais and George Eliot. Joining the Rabelais Club, he met other established literary figures, and illustrated the novels of Thomas Hardy, Elizabeth Gaskell and Wilkie Collins. He also had illustrations published in other London literary magazines throughout his life, such as 'The Illustrated London News', 'Good Words', the 'Illustrated Times', 'London Society', the 'Sunday Magazine', 'The Leisure Hour', 'Harper's Magazine' and the 'English Illustrated Magazine'. He was also a successful novelist, publishing 'Peter Ibbetson' (1889), 'Trilby' (1894) and 'The Martian' (1897). |