The 'official' biography of this decorative book illustrator and theatre designer is Haldane Macfall's The Book of Lovat, Dent 1923 page size 20 x 28 cms. It is a loving treatment of the artist who died young in 1921 at the age of 30. I have also The Luck of the Bean-Rows, a Fairy-tale for Lucky Children, page size 15 x 25cms translated from the French of Charles Nodier. also The Poems from the work of Charles Cotton, selected and illustrated by Fraser for the Poetry Bookshop undated 22 x 14cms. His sketcbooks are a delight.

I hope this selection shows his decorative abilities locating vignettes on the page and in particular his ability to know his own strengths and weaknesses. His life drawing was tentative, even unoriginal, but his style of working and concentration seemed to favour the intense scrutiny of still-lives and eccentric landscapes. The endpapers for The Book of Lovat, top row, show a natural gift for decorative colour which some have called 'musical'.