George Adamson was born in the Bronx, New York in 1913. He began his art training at the Mining and Technical College in England and later specialized in aquatint, etching and drypoint at Liverpool College of Art. Adamson joined the RAF from 1940 to 1946, during these years he was also an official war artist. As a retired member of the Chartered Society of Designers and a life member of the Cartoonists’ Association of Great Britain, Adamson illustrated over 80 books. Among these were several by Ted Hughes. George Adamson became prominent within the magazine world and worked extensively for Punch, Private Eye and the Nursing Times. He also provided drawings for the Cricket, British Airports World and many cartoons for the ‘Peterborough’ column of the Daily Telegraph.His works are held in the permanent collections of the British Museum, the V&A and the Imperial War Museum among many others.

Adamson won the commission to illustrate the Folio Society’s P.G. Wodehouse Short Stories in 1981and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in 1987. He is still widely celebrated and an inspiration to illustrators today.