Colourfully illustrated by Phillida Gili, the book imagines Archie’s life in the Oxfordshire and Berkshire countryside. Scroll down to read an excerpt and to see Phillida Gili’s original watercolours.
Betjeman, J. (1977) Archie and the Strict Baptists. London: John Murray.
This first edition was loaned to us for the physical exhibition by Garry Gibbons.
“He always sat in the same high pew in the chapel. It had an Aneucapnic Lamp fixed on a post. The lamp shone on his hymn book and on his aged head on winter evenings.”
Artist: Phillida Gili
Date: 1977
Medium: Watercolour on paper
This original illustration was loaned to us for the physical exhibition by Phillida Gili.
“Archie was also an archaeologist, so he was quite happy on weekdays. He used to ride out on his hedgehog, carrying a spade. With this he used to dig up molehills, which, he considered, were the graves of baby Druids.”
Artist: Phillida Gili
Date: 1977
Medium: Watercolour on paper
This original illustration was loaned to us for the physical exhibition by Phillida Gili.
“So when no one was about, he went down to the kitchen. He opened the kitchen-table drawer, which had brown paper in it, and, sitting happily on the table under the flypaper, he cut out for himself some brown paper wings.”
Artist: Phillida Gili
Date: 1977
Medium: Watercolour on paper
This original illustration was loaned to us for the physical exhibition by Phillida Gili.
“He landed on the parapet by his attic window and took off his wings one at a time.”
Artist: Phillida Gili
Date: 1977
Medium: Watercolour on paper
This original illustration was loaned to us for the physical exhibition by Phillida Gili.
“For days at a stretch, Archie sat in a dark cupboard with no one to talk to but his rather characterless old friend, Jumbo. He felt unhappy and forgotten.”
Artist: Phillida Gili
Date: 1976
Medium: Watercolour on paper
During an in-house editorial meeting in 1976, concerns were raised over Archie and Jumbo’s apperance. This illustration is a response to Jock’s suggestion, agreed to by Betjeman and Phillida, that a more ‘attractive’ version of Archie should be developed.
This original illustration was loaned to us for the physical exhibition by Phillida Gili.