Lynton Lamb


Lynton Lamb RDI, FSRA, FSIA was an English artist-designer, author, lithographer and illustrator who was notable for his book jacket, poster, architectural decoration and postage stamp designs.

Life and work

He was born the son of The Reverend Frederick Lamb in Nizambabad, India, grew up in London and was educated at Kingswood School, Bath, Somerset. He then worked in an Estate Agents office and attended night school at Camberwell School of Art before studying art full-time at the Central School of Arts and Crafts.
From 1930 he designed book jackets and bindings for the Oxford University Press, with a break for military service during World War II when he designed camouflage and in 1936 he had an exhibition of paintings at the Storran Gallery.
Lamb provided the illustrations for the first edition of Flora Thompson's novel Lark Rise, the first part of what became her Lark Rise to Candleford trilogy.
He designed decorations for Orient Lines ships from 1935-1950, exhibited works at the Festival of Britain in 1951 and designed the binding of the Bible used at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. In 1953/54 he designed the Queen Elizabeth II Castle series high-value definitive stamps issue which featured views of four castles in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland framed by an old stone wall later nicknamed the 'broken grotto'. He received the International Philatelic Art Society Award for the designs in 1960: in 2005 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their issue the Post Office reproduced the designs with new values and the Royal Mint produced a set of silver ingots featuring the designs in 2006.
Lamb was the Author of the Inspector Charles Glover Detective stories, Death of a Dissenter, Worse Than Death, Picture Frame and Man in a Mist, published by Victor Gollancz, London, between 1969 and 1974.
His art publications included The Purpose of Painting and Preparation for Painting. He was head of lithography at the Royal College of Art and Slade School of Fine Art and was named 'Royal Designer to Industry' in 1974. He lived in retirement in Sandon, Essex and died aged 70.