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Pauline Baynes was born on September 9, 1922 in Brighton, Sussex, England, and died August 1, 2008. She was the daughter of Frederick William Wilberforce Baynes, a commissioner in the Indian Civil Service, and Jessie Harriet Maude (Cunningham) Baynes. Her first few years were spent in India, due to her father's position, but when her mother became ill, she returned to England with her mother and sisters. She was educated in several convent schools, which she found harsh and restrictive, until in 1937, at the age of fifteen, she began studies at the Farnham School of Art. From 1939-1940, she attended the Slade School of Art, until in 1940 World War II interrupted her education and she went to work for the British Army's Camouflage Development and Training Centre, where she made demonstration models for instruction courses. In 1942 she joined the Hydrographic Department of British Admiralty, where she drew naval charts until the end of the war in 1945. Baynes' work during the war allowed her to meet many established, professional illustrators who inspired and encouraged her in her budding career.

Baynes is perhaps best known for her illustrations of the works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, although these were done during the beginning of her career. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950) was voted the Children's Book of the Millennium by the British Library Association, and along with The Magician's Nephew was named a Notable Book by the American Library Association.

Baynes wrote and illustrated three books, Victoria and the Golden Bird (1947), How Dog Began (1987), and Good King Wenceslas (1987). She also served as the editor of one book, Thanks Be to God: Prayers from Around the World. (1990). She illustrated over ninety books for authors such as Victoria Stevenson, Emmeline Garnett, Grant Uden, Constance Hieatt, Helen Piers, Anna Sewell, and Beatrix Potter.

The Puffin Book of Nursery Rhymes, by Peter and Iona Opie, won the Carole Prize in 1964. Grant Uden's Dictionary of Chivalry won both the Kate Greenaway Medal from the British Library Association and the Book World Spring Book Festival Award in 1968. The Joy of the Court, by Constance Hieatt, was selected as one of the Children's Books of the Year in 1971 by the Child Study Association of America. In 1972 Baynes received a Kate Greenaway Medal commendation for Snail and Caterpillar, by Helen Piers, and in 1984 The Iron Lion by Peter Dickinson was named one of The New York Times' Notable Books.

Baynes once commented, "My only ambition as a schoolgirl was to illustrate books, and my only ambition now is to try to illustrate better."

Source: Gale Literary Databases. "Pauline (Diana) Bates." Contemporary Authors. 24 September, 2002. 29 June 2005.