In the 1980s Raymond Briggs moved into political commentary about subjects such as nuclear war and the Cold War. As the exhibition explains, he "did not consider himself an activist, yet his books from the early 1980s are powerful critiques of authority figures and military action. Briggs was one of the first illustrators in the UK to explore serious subjects through graphic novels". This is the magazine advertisement for When The Wind Blows (1983) which, like several of his books, was later made into a film.

Fungus the Bogeyman (1977) was an instant cult classic with innumerable inventive details and clever social commentary on British society. Although many of his books are seen as children's books, Briggs himself said, “Books are not missiles, you don’t aim them at anybody”, and indeed his work cuts through many bookshop and readership categories. Fungus is a perfect example. It follows a day in what is actually a very ordinary life, but one subverted by slime, mould, and 'gloomy nihilism'; it is brilliant, funny, daring, guaranteed to shock some, and to put many off their breakfast. 

In the 1960s, Finding he was being asked to illustrate what he regarded as 'very poorly written' books, Raymond Briggs decided, 'rather as a joke' initially, to put together his own. Soon after,  Father Christmas (1973) was a huge success with its radical depiction of the eponymous hero as a grumpy, down-to-earth working man. Briggs commented, "His job...is a cross between a postman, a milkman, a coalman and a sweep. It is cold, hard, lonely and dirty. No wonder he grumbles a lot."

Cambridge University Library has a small, beautifully curated retrospective of Raymond Briggs' work. It is curated in the proper sense of the word, so what comes across directly is the genius of Raymond Briggs (1934-2022) himself. Although he cultivated a curmudgeonly public persona, his humour and humanism shine out in his work. Initially he illustrated other people's stories such as the The Elephant and the Bad Baby (1969) by Elfrida Vipont in which he included a delightfully surreal hat that looks like a pie. 

Dorothy Whipple was acutely aware of forms of petty snobbery which could prevent young women from enjoying fulfilling working lives. At the insistence of the powerful Mr Lockwood, Molly Hunter spends five unhappy years as a governess, becoming 'spiritless, ailing and defeated'. Then, encouraged and helped by the dynamic but socially inferior Oliver Reade, she escapes: she takes a Diploma in baking - her true métier - and finds success running The Bun Shop. Nevertheless, her mother continues to ask herself, 'in the strictest secrecy, [what] could be expected socially from a shop?' (Photos: Hindleys of Lichfield in the 1920s.) 

Dorothy Whipple's writing reveals an acute awareness of normally invisible work, the sort that kept impoverished women out of the workhouse. In an act of charity, Rachel invites the lonely, embittered Kate to Greenbanks to live with her and work as her companion. In this situation which is uncomfortable for both, Kate's only forms of personal and creative expression are choosing the colourful, tasteful decor for her room and her exceptional needlework in which a "design of great twisted stems of wistaria blossoms grew rapidly under her fingers". Sadly, though, she was would have been unable to make a living from her artistry. 

After a change in family fortunes the eponymous Young Anne is determined to gain her independence. "I must be able to keep myself. Have I got to keep being taken in by someone all my life?". Acquisition of shorthand and typing skills enables her to earn her first £4 pay packet; Dorothy Whipple's depiction of the fusty, bureaucratic, male-dominated Municipal Offices is taken from her own experience of the working environment of "pitch-pine, dirty windows, ledgers, letter-presses, ink and india-rubbers".