Finders Keepers

I bought two tiny leather bound Thackeray novels from one of those cardboard boxes that you find outside antique shops thinking that they would always make good props. When I got home and was flicking through them this beautiful and pristine National Book Token with separate book plate fell out. I had no idea of the date or who illustrated it - though it looked a bit like Bawden.

Turns out it is by an illustrator called Gwen White who was at the Royal College of art around the same time as Bawden and who had her own quite prolific career. Thanks to my ex boss Brian Webb for helping me track her down and who is the expert on any matters relating to illustrators of this period! There are some further examples of her work collected by Dr Chris Mullen which you can see here and a very similar book token also by her (and signed) on the National Book Token website gallery here.