Nathaniel Long Biography

Nathaniel John Long (1893-1955) was a commercial artist and illustrator whose career spanned three decades. Much of his work remains uncredited and unrecorded, making it difficult to assess his artistic legacy fully.  Long is best remembered for creating dust jackets and covers, particularly for thriller and crime novels during the 1930s and 1940s. He also illustrated notable editions of classics such as Tom Brown’s Schooldays and The Coral Island in 1948.

In addition to his book work, Long maintained a longstanding relationship with Birn Brothers, a publisher focused on greeting cards, postcards, and affordable children’s books. His versatile talents allowed him to contribute across a range of genres, although much of his output was behind the scenes and unsigned.

He was born on 12 January 1893 in Christchurch, Bournemouth, the son of Nathaniel Long, a local labourer, and Levina Ann Curtis. His early life was marked by family turmoil, as his father frequently appeared in local newspapers for drunkenness, fighting, and domestic disputes. Despite this troubled background, young Nathaniel’s resilience would shape his later artistic pursuits.

In 1904, he enrolled at the Bournemouth West School of Science and Art in Poole Hill, Bournemouth. His career as an artist was temporarily postponed by the outbreak of the First World War. He joined the 1/4th Battalion of the Royal Hampshire Regiment and served as a signaller in Mesopotamia and Persia between 1915 and 1918. During his time overseas, he practiced his art, and in February 1920 he exhibited around 60 black and white drawings and watercolours, produced when he was in the Far East, at his old college (by then the Bournemouth Municipal College). Later that year he married Rose Helen Turner (b.1895).

It is not known exactly when Long established himself as an illustrator. His earliest-known work was a series of illustrations for Cassell & Co.’s The New Magazine and Cassell’s Magazine in 1928, and the Amalgamated Press’s The Corner Magazine and The Thriller in 1929. His work also appeared in Little Folks in the early 1930s. At roughly the same time, he began providing dust jackets for a variety of publishers, including Hurst & Blackett, John Long, Collins, Jarrolds and the Eldon Press. He was less prolific as a book illustrator, with his earliest illustrations appearing in a horror/mystery story by Walter S. Masterman in 1932. He signed his work either “Nat Long” or “NL.”

His work also appeared in a number of large-format children’s books such as The Modern Book for Boys, The Splendid Book for Boys, Boys’ Sporting Stories and Popular Stories for Girls, all published by Birn Brothers.

He appears to have stopped working towards the end of 1953, either because of ill health or because of a declining market for the type of fiction he was illustrating. He died, at Guy’s Hospital, London, on 5 October 1955, leaving an estate valued at £7,153 (around £170,000 in today’s terms).

Books illustrated by Nat Long

The Flying Beast by Walter S. Masterman, E.P. Dutton & Co., 1932
Stories of Detection ed. by R.W. Jepson, Longmans, Green & Co., 1939
Essays and Sketches by A.J. Merson, Longmans, Green & Co., 1939
Peter Darington, Seaman Detective by Douglas V. Duff, Thames Publishing Co., 1948
A Tale About Timothy by Lindie Leigh, Partridge Publications, 1948
Flights into the Future by various authors, Thames Publishing Co., 1948
Jack and the Beanstalk, Birn Brothers, 1948
Tom Brown’s Schooldays by Thomas Hughes, W. Foulsham & Co., 1948 (re-issue)
The Coral Island by R.M. Ballantyne, W. Foulsham & Co., 1948 (re-issue)
Conquerors of the Air by Harry Harper, Thames Publishing Co., 1948 (cover)
My Favourite Story, Thames Publishing Co., 1949 (with other artists)
Picture Pages from Britain’s History, Raphael Tuck & Sons, (1940s?)
The Best Term Ever by Cecilia Falcon, Thames Publishing Co., 1952
The Mystery of Torland Manor by Aylmer Hall, George G. Harrap & Co., 1952
In the Footsteps of Jesus by Rev. Leighton Houghton, Purnell, 1965
Horses and Ponies of the World by Phyliss Briggs, 1966