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Posted by Tom, November 17, 2014

Envelopes from Axel Scheffler

One of the great joys of working in children’s publishing comes from seeing artwork arriving in the office for the first time – and it’s especially pleasing when it appears in unexpected places… like on an envelope. For me, the undisputed king of the envelope illustration is Pip and Posy illustrator Axel Scheffler: from a simple crow illustration with some nicely-drawn lettering, to an abstract masterpiece riffing on figures from history and stamp design, Axel’s envelopes are invariably beautiful, witty and imaginative (so much so that many of them end up framed on our walls).

Receiving post from Axel makes any day a happy one (it certainly brightened up my Monday last week, when the piece at the top of this post appeared), so today I thought I’d share some of my favourite envelope art from Axel.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerThis envelope, addressed to Kate, was featured in a retrospective of Axel’s work in Troisdorf, Germany. I think it is HILARIOUS – a surreal, brilliant stroke of genius.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerEven Axel’s simplest envelopes are charming.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerThe biggest crow in the whole world.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerThis chap’s looking pretty thoughtful.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerI really love this trail of crows.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerThis one, featuring Pip, is on display on our wall of crows.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerAnother envelope from the crow wall in our office – this gigantic creature has pushed our address almost off the page…

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerCamilla was wearing a dress almost EXACTLY like this one on the day this arrived in the office.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerA very friendly looking leopard.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerA pretty stylish pair.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerQuite the odd couple.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerIt’s a good thing Axel was around to feed those crows…

Envelopes from Axel Scheffler“Napoleon After Leipzig”. This is strange and incredible and I love it.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerThis just gets funnier and funnier the more I look at it – I love how Axel has captured the EXACT pose of the stamp man.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerMy name provides a very convenient perch for agitated crows – I particularly like the goggly eyes on this one.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerOne of our most recent crows – it is autumn, after all.

Envelopes from Axel SchefflerAnd finally, another very simple envelope, with some wonderful hand-lettering.

For more envelopes from Axel, sign up to our books newsletter, and we’ll share some of the incredible artwork that arrives in our office.

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