John Minton (1917-1957)

Time Was Away: A Notebook in Corsica was published in 1948 by John Lehmann with spine and typography designed by Keith Vaughan. Lehmann had set up his own publishing house and commissioned Bawden, Medley, Spender, Burra, Ayrton, Vaughan and Minton as illustrators. Frances Spalding writes of 'Time was Away' that;' [it] resulted from a visit made to Corsica by Minton and Alan Ross, at Lehmann's suggestion ... Minton's drawings do not simply illustrate Ross' text but, in their breadth and vigour, enlarge upon it ... Though Minton's illustrations to an extent derive from the stock-in-trade ingredients used by topographical and Romantic artists, they yet compose an inventive and original style. Time Was Away became a cult book among illustration students'. (F. Spalding, Dance till the Stars Come Down, London, 1991, pp. 109-114).