Frank C. Papé

Frank Cheyne Papé, who generally signed himself Frank C. Papé (b. Camberwell, July 4, 1878 - d. Bedford, May 5, 1972) was an English artist and book illustrator. He studied at The Slade School of Fine Art, completing his studies circa 1902-04. Papé was married to a fellow Slade student, illustrator Alice Stringer.

Papé's first known work, for E. Clement's Naughty Eric, published in 1902, remains extremely rare. One copy is held by The British Library. An original pen and ink illustration from one of the stories, 'The Magic Stone', has been found in Sussex, England.

Papé's next earliest illustrations are found in books for children from around 1908, including The Odyssey and The Pilgrim's Progress. During the second decade of the 20th Century he made extensive contributions to the following titles :

By 1911, Papé was a highly successful book illustrator. World War I brought a decline in Britain's illustrated book market, affecting Papé's livelihood. He enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps in 1915 and served on the Greco-Bulgarian front.

Papé's career was revived in the early 1920s through his illustrations for a number of books by James Branch Cabell, which brought him new acclaim in the United States. These books from Biography of the Life of Manuel, issued by the London publishing house The Bodley Head, included Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice (1921, originally in a limited edition), The High Place, Something about Eve and The Cream of the Jest. These illustrations often wittily paralleled the double entendres in Cabell's writing. In the preface to the 1925 edition of his book Figures of Earth, Cabell praised the fitness of Papé's style for these works.

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