KIRBY, Josh

(1928-)

   UK illustrator, trained at Liverpool School of Art. JK's work in sf began with covers for the 1956 paperback of Ian FLEMING's Moonraker (1955) and for Authentic Science Fiction. Most of his art has been forpaperback covers, for publishers including Corgi, Panther and New English Library and, in the USA, ACE BOOKS, BALLANTINE BOOKS, DAW BOOKS and LancerBooks. His style is colourful and intricate, and often designed on a small scale: the painting is frequently no larger than the book cover itself. His trademark is the grotesquerie of his creations. He belongs to atradition derived more obviously from grotesque fantasists like Arthur Rackham than from sf illustrators. JK's work has been strongly identified,in the 1980s and since, with both hardcover and paperback editions of the novels of Terry PRATCHETT, with whom he shares a cover credit for the richly illustrated Eric (1990) - even Pratchett imitators often get JK covers. A portfolio of his work is Voyage of the Ayeguy (1981). The Josh Kirby Poster Book (1989), in large format and introduced by Pratchett,contains 13 posters. JK's most substantial and recent book is In the Garden of Unearthly Delights (1991), 159 paintings by JK with intro byBrian W. ALDISS.

   JG/PN

   See also: FANTASY.