A. E. Jackson illustrates ‘Tales of the Arabian Nights’

Alfred Edward Frederick Jackson was born in Kentish Town, London, England, in 1873.

Jackson had a modest upbringing. His parents supported his artistic pursuits however, and he trained at Camden School of Art, where he was an exceptional student winning a Gold and Silver medal for his work.

At the age of twenty-eight (in 1901), Jackson had his first painting exhibited at the Royal Academy. Shortly before this, he began to publish illustrations in The Sketch, painted covers for the Daily Mail Sixpenny Novel series, and illustrated children’s books.

Jackson illustrated bestselling editions of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1914), Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1915), Tales From Shakespeare (1919), Charles Kingsley’s The Water Babies (1920), Tales from the Arabian Nights (1920) and Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1921).

By now a well-renowned illustrator, Jackson spent his later years in Hastings, where he was a member of the East Sussex Arts Club.  He had two daughters, Muriel and Elaine, who both followed in their father’s footsteps and enjoyed successful careers as illustrative artists. They even illustrated many of the same stories as their father.

A. E. Jackson died in Hailsham, Sussex, in the spring of 1952. He was seventy-nine years old.