author
Dion Clayton Calthrop
1878–1937
An English writer, illustrator, and playwright with a painter’s eye, he moved easily between fiction, theater, and visual art. He is especially remembered for richly illustrated work on historical dress and for a varied literary career that also reached the stage and screen.
4 Audiobooks
The Harlequinade: An Excursion
by Dion Clayton Calthrop, Harley Granville-Barker
The Pirate's Pocket Book
by Dion Clayton Calthrop
The Charm of Gardens
by Dion Clayton Calthrop
English Costume
by Dion Clayton Calthrop
About the author
Born in London in 1878, Dion Clayton Calthrop came from a theatrical family and was the son of the actor John Clayton. He studied art in London and Paris, and that visual training stayed with him throughout his career, shaping both his illustrations and the vivid descriptive quality of his writing.
Calthrop worked across several forms: novels, humorous writing, plays, and illustration. He is often linked with English Costume, the illustrated series that helped make historical dress more accessible to general readers, and records of his work also show his involvement in theater and screen writing. Contemporary and later references describe him not just as an author, but as an artist and illustrator as well.
He died in England on March 7, 1937. Although he is not as widely known now as some of his contemporaries, his work still has charm for readers interested in early 20th-century storytelling, theater, and the visual side of literary culture.