Ionicus

Joshua Charles Armitage (26 September 1913 – 29 January 1998) was an English illustrator under the pen name Ionicus.[1][2]

Ionicus
BornJoshua Charles Armitage
(1913-09-26)26 September 1913
Hoylake, Cheshire, England
Died29 January 1998(1998-01-29) (aged 84)
Hoylake, Wirral, Merseyside
NationalityBritish
Area(s)Illustrator, cartoonist

He may be known best for illustrating the covers of Penguin paperback editions of books by P. G. Wodehouse, though he contributed cartoons and drawings to Punch for more than 40 years, and provided cover designs and text illustrations for nearly 400 books in total.[3]

Biography

Armitage was born in 1913, in the town of Hoylake on the Irish Sea, county of Cheshire. When he died there in 1998, it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. In 1939 he married Catherine Buckle, who died in 1988. They had two daughters.[2]

Armitage studied at Liverpool School of Art, taught at Wallesey School of Art, and joined the Navy in 1940. He took the name Ionicus for his first cartoon that was published in Punch, 29 March 1944, after two ionic columns in the drawing. Over 40 years he contributed 358 drawings to the magazine.[2]

Book cover art

Although best known for his depiction of Wodehouse's idyllic England, Ionicus also provided dustjacket illustrations for well-known writers in other genres, such as the following:

  • With interior "illustrations (some color)", a volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales published by Chanticleer Press Inc in The Heirloom Library, OCLC 11700391 (1950s probably)
  • Children's fantasy novels by Diana Wynne Jones: Charmed Life, The Magicians of Caprona, and Witch Week (1977 to 1982)[4][5]
  • Horror novels by Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes: The King's Ghost,[6] Tales From The Hidden World,[7] and The Haunted Grange[8] (1985 to 1988)[9]

Wartime art

During his wartime service in the British Navy, Ionicus contributed to the Admiralty-sponsored monthly magazine Ditty Box.[3]

gollark: There's a 28-day-ish day/night cycle.
gollark: No, you just have... longer hours?
gollark: Actually, come to think of it, you would probably need a pretty powerful microcontroller to hold and handle the whole database of time zone insanity.
gollark: An RTG might be better for the whole "overengineering" thing than solar power, but they're pretty hard to get hold of, and it might be a bit heavy.
gollark: Just stick in a GPS receiver - that provides you with both location, obviously, and the super-accurate timing data GPS provides - probably some sort of microcontroller, whatever display you want, rather a lot of battery, and probably a solar panel or something.

References
  1. "Ionicus: Artist whose illustrations caught the spirit of P G Wodehouse's country house world" (obituary). The Daily Telegraph. 7 February 1998. Reprint at the Russian Wodehouse Society (wodehouse.ru) retrieved 2008-07-02.
  2. "Obituary: Ionicus". David Langdon. The Independent. 3 February 1998. Retrieved 2015-08-05.
  3. "Artists: Ionicus". The Art of War. The National Archives (nationalarchives.gov.uk). Retrieved 2008-07-02.
  4. "Diana Wynne Jones UK First Edition cover art: Dustwrappers 1970–1982" (maulu.demon.co.uk) at the Internet Archive. Archived 2012-02-13. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  5. Ionicus at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB). Retrieved 2012-04-29. Select a title to see its linked publication history and general information. Select a particular edition (title) for more data at that level, such as a front cover image or linked contents.
  6. The King's Ghost. Fantastic Fiction (fantasticfiction.co.uk). Retrieved 2008-07-02. Bibliographic data not including identification of cover or interior illustrator. 'Ionicus' fits a signature visible but illegible in the book cover image; not visible in the cover images for sequel books.
  7. Tales From The Hidden World. Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
  8. The Haunted Grange. Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
  9. R. Chetwynd-Hayes at ISFDB. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
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