Edward Arthur Wilson

Edward Arthur Wilson was an American illustrator, printmaker and commercial artist best known for his book and magazine illustrations.

Wilson was born on March 4, 1886, in Glasgow, Scotland; one of two sons born to Edward J. Wilson and Euphemia E. Murray. In 1893, the family emigrated to the United States and by no later than 1900, the family had settled in Chicago. Edward attended the Art Institute of Chicago, and later studied with illustrator Howard Pyle.

In 1921, Wilson designed the cover for William McFee's An Engineer's Notebook. His first full-length project was Iron Men and Wooden Ships (1924), a collection of sailor shanties edited by author and bookseller Frank Shay. Over the next two decades, Wilson illustrated many classic novels, including Robinson Crusoe (1930), The Man Without a Country (1936), Treasure Island (1941), and Jane Eyre (1944). Later, he produced illustrations for magazines and a number of World War II propaganda posters; a number of these are included in Thomas Craven's The Book of Edward A. Wilson (1948). In 1945, Wilson's work was featured in Life Magazine.

Wilson was married to Jane Roe and they had two daughters, one of whom was the actress Perry Wilson.

On October 2, 1970, after a long struggle with an undisclosed illness, Wilson died at the age of 84 in Dobbs Ferry.