Brian Batsford

Sir Brian Caldwell Cook Batsford (18 December 1910 – 5 March 1991) was an English painter, designer, publisher and Conservative Party politician. Born at Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire as Brian Caldwell Cook, he adopted his mother's maiden name, Batsford, in 1946. As Brian Cook, he was well known as the illustrator/designer of the dust jackets of the highly-collectible Batsford books from the 1930s to the 1950s.

He was educated at Repton School, 1924-28 where he started to paint. In 1928 he began working for the production department of the publishing firm of B. T. Batsford, of which his uncle, Harry Batsford, was chairman. His first dust jacket was for The Villages of England (1932) when he was 21 years of age. The distinctive vibrant colours of the jackets were achieved by the Jean Berté process, which used rubber plates and water-based inks. Following his uncle's death, he was chairman of Batsford, from 1952 until 1974.

As Flight Lieutenant Brian Cook he failed to defend the Conservative seat of Chelmsford at a by-election in April 1945 which was won by Ernest Millington for the short-lived Common Wealth Party. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Ealing South at a by-election on 12 June 1958. He held the seat until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election, and did not stand for Parliament again. He was knighted in 1974. He was tenant of Lamb House, the National Trust property in Rye, East Sussex, 1980–87.

Batsford

Batsford is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 99. The village is about 1½ miles north-west of Moreton-in-Marsh. There is a falconry centre close to the village and Batsford Arboretum is nearby, situated on the Cotswold escarpment.

Moreton-in-Marsh and Batsford War Memorial, on the High Street in Moreton-in-Marsh, commemorates the village's dead of two World Wars.

Location

Batsford village is at Ordnance Survey grid reference SP187339

References

External links

Coordinates: 52°0′10″N 1°43′45″W / 52.00278°N 1.72917°W / 52.00278; -1.72917

Batsford (disambiguation)

Batsford may refer to:

Pavilion Books

Pavilion Books Holdings Ltd is a publishing company with headquarters at 1, Gower Street, London WC1. It specialises in illustrated books and digital content. Pavilion was founded in 2005 as "Anova Books" with the acquisition of the Chrysalis Books Group from the Chrysalis Group. Since then it has acquired and created several other imprints. The company's owner and publisher is Polly Powell. The Managing Director is David Graham. Non-executive directors are Vaughan Grylls, Jon Ripon and Zana Hanks. Current imprints include: