A short life of the author
Raymond Briggs (1934–2022) was one of the most important and versatile British illustrators of the twentieth century. The Snowman (1978) — a wordless picture book about a boy whose snowman comes to life for one magical night — is one of the most beloved children’s books ever made, and its 1982 animated film adaptation (with the song “Walking in the Air”) is a British Christmas institution. But Briggs was far more than a creator of cozy holiday entertainment: When the Wind Blows (1982), about an elderly couple facing nuclear annihilation, is one of the most devastating anti-war graphic novels ever published.
Life and Career
Briggs was born on 18 January 1934 in Wimbledon, London. His parents — his father was a milkman, his mother a former lady’s maid — appear throughout his work as models for ordinary, decent English people. He studied at the Wimbledon School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art and worked as an illustrator before creating his own picture books.
Father Christmas (1973) — a comic-strip-format picture book depicting Father Christmas as a grumpy working man who hates the cold — won the Kate Greenaway Medal. Its sequel, Father Christmas Goes on Holiday (1975), continued the irreverent treatment. Fungus the Bogeyman (1977) — a densely illustrated book about a disgusting creature living underground — is a satirical masterpiece aimed at older children.
The Snowman (1978) is his most famous work: entirely wordless, told in soft-pencil colored-pencil panels, it follows a boy whose snowman comes to life and takes him on a flight over the English countryside. The final image — the melted snowman — introduces children to impermanence and loss with a gentleness that is genuinely moving. The Channel 4 animated film (1982) has been broadcast every Christmas since.
When the Wind Blows (1982) — about Jim and Hilda Bloggs, a retired English couple following government survival instructions during a nuclear attack — is his masterpiece. The Bloggses’ cheerful incomprehension of what is happening to them, their trust in government leaflets, and their gradual, oblivious decline from radiation sickness make the book one of the most effective pieces of anti-nuclear protest art produced during the Cold War.
Ethel & Ernest (1998) — a graphic-novel biography of his parents’ lives from the 1920s to the 1970s — is a work of extraordinary emotional power and historical specificity.
Key Works
- Father Christmas (1973)
- The Snowman (1978)
- When the Wind Blows (1982)
- Ethel & Ernest (1998)
Collecting Briggs
The Snowman first edition (Hamish Hamilton, 1978) brings $200–$800 in fine condition with dust jacket. Father Christmas first edition (Hamish Hamilton, 1973) — Greenaway Medal winner — brings $150–$500. When the Wind Blows first edition (Hamish Hamilton, 1982) signed brings $100–$300. Briggs signed at events throughout his career. His death in 2022 fixed the supply. Original Briggs artwork commands premium prices at auction.