Editing Mervyn Peake (section)

===Illustration and writing===
The five years between 1943 and 1948 were some of the most productive of his career. He finished ''Titus Groan'' and ''Gormenghast'' and completed some of his most acclaimed illustrations for books by other authors, including [[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[The Hunting of the Snark]]'' (for which he was reportedly paid only £5) and ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'', [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]]'s ''[[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'', the [[Brothers Grimm]]'s ''Household Tales'', ''All This and Bevin Too'' by [[Quentin Crisp]] and [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s ''[[Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde]]'', as well as producing many original poems, drawings, and paintings.

Peake designed the logo for [[Pan Books]]. The publishers offered him either a flat fee of £10 or a royalty of one [[Farthing (British coin)|farthing]] per book. On the advice of [[Graham Greene]], who told him that paperback books were a passing fad that would not last, Peake opted for the £10.<ref>As recounted by Clare Peake on the BBC Radio 4 programme ''[[Midweek (BBC Radio 4)|Midweek]]'', [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011zn5p#synopsis 22 June 2011.]</ref>

A book of nonsense poems, ''Rhymes Without Reason'', was published in 1944 and was described by [[John Betjeman]] as "outstanding". Shortly after the war ended in 1945, [[Edgar Ainsworth (artist)|Edgar Ainsworth]], the art editor of ''[[Picture Post]]'', commissioned Peake to visit France and Germany for the magazine.<ref name=Colegrave>{{cite web|author=Sarah Colegrave Fine Art|url=http://www.sarahcolegrave.co.uk/paintings/d/gordale-scar/41434|title=Edgar Ainsworth (1905–1975)|access-date=2 July 2016|work=Sarah Colegrave Fine Art|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201044438/http://www.sarahcolegrave.co.uk/paintings/d/gordale-scar/41434|archive-date=1 December 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> With writer [[Tom Pocock]], Peake was among the first British civilians to witness the horrors of the [[Nazism|Nazi]] [[concentration camp]] at [[Belsen]], where the remaining prisoners, too sick to be moved, were dying before his very eyes. He made several drawings, but not surprisingly he found the experience profoundly harrowing, and expressed in deeply felt poems the ambiguity of turning their suffering into art.<ref name="Beeb">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14015945 |title=Gormenghast's Mervyn Peake 'influenced by death camp' |date=5 July 2011|access-date=13 August 2014|publisher=BBC News}}</ref>

In 1946, the family moved to [[Sark]], where Peake continued to write and illustrate, and Maeve painted.  ''[[Gormenghast (novel)|Gormenghast]]'' was published in 1950,<ref>[[Robert Irwin (writer)|Robert Irwin]], "Peake, Mervyn (Laurence)", ''St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers'', ed. [[David Pringle]], London, St. James Press, 1996, {{ISBN|1-55862-205-5}}, pp. 469–70.</ref><ref>[[John Clute]], "The Titus Groan Trilogy", in Frank N. Magill (ed.), ''Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature'', Vol. 4. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, Inc., 1983 (pp. 1947–1953). {{ISBN|0-89356-450-8}}.</ref> and the family moved back to England, settling in [[Smarden]], Kent. Peake taught part-time at the [[Central School of Art]], began his comic novel ''Mr Pye'', and renewed his interest in theatre. His father died that year and left his house in Hillside Gardens in [[Wallington, London|Wallington]], Surrey to Peake.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMNQDM_Mervyn_Peake_Drayton_Gardens_London_UK|title=Mervyn Peake – Drayton Gardens, London, UK – Blue Plaques on Waymarking.com|website=waymarking.com|access-date=4 August 2019}}</ref> ''[[Mr Pye]]'' was published in 1953, and he later adapted it as a radio play. The [[BBC]] broadcast other plays of his in 1954 and 1956.