Mr Jellyman - Hartley’s Jelly (c.1955)

Year: Undated (c.1950s)

Format: Display card

Illustrator: Patrick Tilley (1928-2020)

Client: Hartley’s Jelly

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Details: This Hartley’s Jelly display card features a character called Mr Jellyman. It looks as if it used to have a magnet on the reverse side which has been removed.

I recognise the character as one originally drawn by British designer Patrick Tilley (1928-2020) for a poster. The poster was created in the mid 1950s, so it would be fair to assume that this was printed around the same time.

Patrick Tilley was born in Essex and grew up in Northumbria and Cumbria. After studying art at King’s College, University of Durham, he moved to London in 1955. He created work for a range of clients including The Sunday Times, the GPO and McDougall’s Flour.

Tilley gave up graphic design in 1968 to pursue a career in screenwriting. He went on to become a successful science fiction writer, creating the dystopian series ‘The Amtrak Wars’.