{{Short description|English illustrator (1904–1977)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Bip Pares | birth_name = Ethel Pares | birth_date = 27 February 1904 | birth_place = Clewer | death_date = {{Death date and age|1977|02|04|1904|02|27}} | death_place = Hampstead | occupation = Commercial artist, illustrator }}
'''Ethel''' "'''Bip'''" '''Pares''' (27 February 1904 – 4 February 1977) was an Art Deco illustrator and cartographer, who designed at least 600 book covers, created iconic posters for London Transport and wrote and illustrated an account of her honeymoon in the Himalayas. Her covers for British books were often retained for American publications, which was unusual practice at the time.
== Early life and education == Ethel Pares was born on 27 February 1904 in Clewer, near Windsor, Berkshire, the second of six children. Her parents were Caroline "Eve" Evelyn née Whistler (1874–1959) and Basil Pares (1869–1943) who had married in 1902 in Norfolk. Her father was a surgeon-major of the Royal Horse Guards by 1906 and was mentioned twice in despatches in the First World War. Her siblings were George Pares (later a Commander in the Royal Navy), Evelyn, Stephen, Basil and Constance (known as Kon) who also became an artist. One of her paternal uncles was historian Bernard Pares, known for his work on Russia and a first cousin was plantswoman and photographer Susan Jellicoe.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Books |first=Laurence Worms-Ash Rare |date=17 September 2013 |title=Bip Pares (1904–1977) |url=https://ashrarebooks.com/2013/09/17/bip-pares-1904-1977/ |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=The Bookhunter on Safari |language=en}}</ref>
Named after a paternal aunt, Ethel was widely known as "Bip", her family's pet name for her (inspired by her inability to pronounce a horse's name when a small child). Bip became the name she used professionally, even on official documents.<ref name=":0" />
Pares studied at the Slade School of Art in the early 1920s.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=PARES Bip 1904–1977 {{!}} Artist Biographies |url=https://www.artbiogs.co.uk/1/artists/pares-bip |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=www.artbiogs.co.uk}}</ref>
== Career ==
Pares developed a successful career working as a commercial artist. She produced posters for London Transport, Underground Group, and London Transport between 1928 and 1939 while working at the Clement Dane Studio.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Bip Pares, b. 1904 |url=https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/people/item/1996-5096 |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=London Transport Museum |language=en}}</ref>
She was an illustrator of numerous books and is thought to have produced at least 600 dust jackets designs for published books, particularly crime novels.<ref name=":0" /> Notable cover illustrations included ''Woman Alive'' by Susan Ertz (1935); Wigs of the Green by Nancy Mitford (1935);<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trove |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/8560680/version/9891319?keyword=bip%20pares |access-date=10 December 2022 |website=trove.nla.gov.au}}</ref> ''Star Maker'' by Olaf Stapledon (1937); ''Fair Fat Lady'' (1937) by Noel de Vic Beamish, ''Living with History'' by Ernest Henry Short (1939) and ''Good-bye, Mr. Chips'' by James Hilton (1952).<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=SFE: Pares, Bip |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/pares_bip |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=sf-encyclopedia.com}}</ref> In 1934 she produced a cover design for the ''Electrical Handbook'' for Women, written by Caroline Haslett and published by the Electrical Association for Women. The cover was used for five editions of the book across two decades.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Koerner |first=Emily Rees |date=24 March 2020 |title=The Electrical Handbook for Women – a transformative 20th-century text |url=https://electrifyingwomen.org/the-electrical-handbook-for-women-a-transformative-20th-century-text/ |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=Electrifying Women |language=en-GB}}</ref>
She created maps for the ''Daily Express'' during the Second World War<ref name=":2" /> having been recorded as enrolled in the Air Ministry ARP Camouflage in the 1939 Register.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1939 England and Wales Register |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/61596/images/tna_r39_0247_0247f_009?pId=7146531 |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=www.ancestry.co.uk}}</ref> Pares continues to work as a cartographer into the 1950s with her work published by the Sunday Observer and reproduced in the Sunday Herald in Australia.<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 August 1950 |title=World Spotlight |work=Sunday Herald |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18475147 |access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref>
She is best known for her commercial British art-deco style, although did also work in more naturalistic designs. The cover designs she created for British editions of books were often retained for the American editions, too, a rarity at the time she was working. Her work is now considered very collectible.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=Bip Pares – Author and Publisher correspondence |url=http://www.classiccrimefiction.com/bip-pares-letters.htm |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=www.classiccrimefiction.com}}</ref>
Her later career was affected by ill health, but she continued to work in illustration, even when unable to leave her bed. Some of her later work was illustrations for greeting cards.<ref name=":1" />
== Personal life == On 30 September 1933, Pares married Alfred Trevor Gwyn Thomas, a physician, at St Mary the Virgin, in Horsell Surrey. Her uncle, Norman Pares, was the parish vicar and conducted the ceremony.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754–1937 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/4779/images/40815_1831101883_0918-00063?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=7108089 |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=www.ancestry.co.uk}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
The marriage was short-lived, and she petitioned for divorce in 1936. She then shared her flat with Eric Vernon Francis, a writer on politics and economics, and Frederick Elwyn Jones, later Baron Elwyn-Jones, the Welsh barrister and Labour politician.<ref name=":0" />
In 1938, Pares married for a second time, to Robert Christopher Bradby (1905–1982), son of Henry Christopher Bradby (1868–1947), a poet and master at Rugby School. The couple spent their honeymoon in the Himalayas, travelling with the British Everest Expedition which set out that year under Bill Tilman. Pares later published an account of the journey in 1940, writing and illustrating the book called ''Himalayan Honeymoon'', published by Hodder & Stoughton, for whom she often worked as an illustrator.<ref name="auto"/> The couple settled in Hampstead, and had one son Bonamy P. Bradby born in 1941,<ref>{{Cite web |title=England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8782/images/ons_b19412az-0112?pId=33545877 |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=www.ancestry.co.uk}}</ref> but by 1948 the marriage was over.<ref name=":0" />
Pares lived in Hampstead until her death on 4 February 1977.<ref>{{Cite web |title=England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7579/images/ons_d19771az-0918?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=47655093 |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=www.ancestry.co.uk}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Feb 09, 1977, page 32 - The Daily Telegraph at Newspapers.com™ |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/750595001/ |access-date=2025-12-30 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}</ref> A memorial service was held in her honour at St Luke's Church, Hampstead on 12 February 1977.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Feb 13, 1977, page 4 - The Observer at Newspapers.com™ |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/258491415/ |access-date=2025-12-30 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Legacy == A number of the posters Pares designed for London Transport are held in the collections of London Transport Museum.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Image licensing |url=https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/image-licensing |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=London Transport Museum |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Poster; The zoo; camel, by Bip Pares, 1939 |url=https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/posters/item/1983-4-5341 |access-date=23 October 2022 |website=London Transport Museum |language=en}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pares, Bip}} Category:1904 births Category:1977 deaths Category:Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Category:Artists from Berkshire Category:English women illustrators Category:English women writers Category:People from Windsor, Berkshire Category:People from Hampstead Category:British cartographers