Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997)
Williams, Garth

Tagged: Artist, Author.

(1912-1996) US writer and illustrator, in Mexico from 1961, who remains best-known for his illustrations for E B White's two wry Beast Fables, Stuart Little (1945) and Charlotte's Web (1952). Williams's style, which wove intimacy and a sense of the Marvellous, was ideal for this kind of story. He conveyed a similar Wainscot ambience in the two main series he illustrated: the Borrowers sequence by Margery Sharp, Williams's illustrations beginning with the second volume, Miss Bianca (1952) and including The Turret (1963) and Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines (1966), and George Selden's Chester, Harry and Tucker sequence. Other work included Bedtime for Frances (1960 chap), Russell Hoban's first book of fiction, plus non-genre books by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) and Charlotte Zolotow (1915-2013). His own Children's Fantasies were directed towards younger children. The best-known is The Rabbits' Wedding (1958 chap), which offended US segregationists by describing the marriage between a black and a white rabbit. [JC]

Garth Williams

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