This book opens up an exciting and extensive archive of fashion illustration by Francis Marshall, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Marshall’s career coincided with the golden age of fashion illustration and hand-drawn commercial art from the 1930s to the 1950s. For much of the 20th century, he was one of Britain’s most prolific and highly regarded fashion illustrators, yet today his work remains relatively unknown. Unlike his gregarious contemporary Cecil Beaton, Marshall was a retiring character, not interested in pushing his personal profile. His work is characterised by careful observation, verve and wit - he has been celebrated as a ‘master of line’, always at his best when drawing from life.

Active from the 1920s until the 1960s, Marshall’s work was published in a wide range of platforms, from the exclusive features of Vogue magazine to the more accessible and widely read women’s pages of the Daily Mail. He also worked extensively in advertising for companies such as Jaeger, Fortnum and Mason, Liberty and Elizabeth Arden and released his own books ranging from manuals on illustration for fashion and ballet to nostalgic records of fashionable society London West and An Englishman in New York.

Latterly he was best known for 200 or so covers he illustrated for the romantic fiction of prolific author Dame Barbara Cartland. Titles such as The Curse of the Clan and The Outrageous Lady have become highly collectable in spite of Cartland’s infamous prose, due to Francis Marshall’s distinctive style.