Margaret Macadam

Margaret Macadam (1902–1991) was a British illustrator active in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1923-24 she was a member of the Society of Women Artists and in 1925 she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools[1] where a fellow student and future sister-in-law was Amy Elton.[2][3]Among her commercial works are several dust wrapper designs for London-based publishers, most important among which is the design for the dust wrapper for the first edition of Agatha Christie's first straight novel Giant's Bread. Following the discovery of an archive of Macadam's work in 2016[4] it was possible to connect her work on Giant's Bread to other known designs. The original artwork for Giant's Bread was sold for £550 in 2016.[5] She is also known to have designed wallpaper, and greetings cards for Medici, London. Other work is known, such as 1933. [6] In May 1936 she married Francis Beart, already well-known as a racing motor cyclist and motor cycle tuner, and later also for tuning Formula Three racing cars.[7] During World War II she trained as a nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) while her husband worked as an engineer for the Bristol Aeroplane Company.[8]