Marjorie Maitland Howard

Marjorie Maitland Howard, pictured around 1958, with her bust of V. Gordon Childe and models created for Frederick Zeuner.

Bust of V. Gordon Childe. Marjorie Howard, c. 1958. Institute of Archaeology library, London.

A bust of Mortimer Wheeler in the Institute of Archaeology library. Probably the bust made by Marjorie Howard.

Marjorie Maitland Howard (1898-1983) was a versatile modeller, sculptor, and book illustrator who was associated with the Institute of Archaeology in London where she worked from 1948 to 1960.

Early life

Marjorie Maitland Howard was born in 1898.^[1]

Career

Howard had an early career in book illustration, producing an illustrated edition of the Fables of Aesop that was published by John Lane at The Bodley Head in 1926. She also illustrated Elizabeth Ward's Who goes to the wood (Lutterworth, 1940).

In 1946, she illustrated Frederick Zeuner's Dating the past: An introduction to geochronology^[1] which went through several editions and was still in print in 1970.

From 1948 until her retirement in 1960, she worked at the Institute of Archaeology, now part of University College London. She created models for Frederick Zeuner to use in his lectures and busts of V. Gordon Childe (c.1958) and Mortimer Wheeler.^[2]

In 1956, she supervised archaeological work at Balawat for the British Institute for the Study of Iraq and subsequently prepared drawings of the Balawat Gates.^[3]

Later life

After her retirement from the Institute of Archaeology she continued to illustrate books, collaborating particularly with Ian Wolfram Cornwall on his series of books about the prehistoric world. She died in 1983.^[1]

Selected books illustrated by Marjorie Maitland Howard

• Fables of Æsop. John Lane, The Bodley Head, London, 1926.
• Who goes to the wood. Lutterworth, London, 1940. (Text by Fay Inchfawn, pseud. Elizabeth Rebecca Ward.)
• Dating the past: An introduction to geochronology. Methuen, London, 1946. (Text by Frederick Zeuner)
• The making of man. Phoenix House, London, 1960. (Text by Ian Wolfram Cornwall)
• Animal ancestors. Phoenix House, London, 1964. (Text by Sonia Cole)
• The world of ancient man. Phoenix House, London, 1964. (Text by Ian Wolfram Cornwall)
• Hunter's half-moon. J Baker, London, 1967. (Text by Ian Wolfram Cornwall)
• Prehistoric animals and their hunters. Faber & Faber, London, 1968. (Text by Ian Wolfram Cornwall)
• Ancient Britons. John Baker, London, 1969. (Text by Henry Hodges and Edward Pyddoke) ISBN 0212998463

See also

• Archaeological illustration

References

1. "From the archives: Women of the early institute", Elizabeth Pye, Archaeology International, No. 18 (2015), pp. 131-133.
2. From the Archives. Archaeology International, 1 December 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
3. "Editorial", Iraq: Journal of The British Institute for the Study of Iraq, Volume 46, Issue 01, Spring 1984, pp ii-ii.