wegner began his long career as a freelance illustrator by working for the magazine "lilliput" and drawing book jackets for a range of publishers. hamish hamilton was the first publishing house to launch him as an illustrator. during a long relationship with the company he worked on book covers and jackets for adult and children's books, and illustrations for a wide range of children's books. he drew the covers for the english editions of "the catcher in the rye" (1951) and raymond chandler's "the long goodbye". he illustrated religious works by dorothy l. sayers such as "the story of noah's ark" (1956), "the story of adam and christ" (1953) and "the days of christ's coming", (1960) in a slightly medieval style. some of his illustrations for mordecai richler's "jacob two-two meets the hooded fang" (1975) riff off and rework george cruikshank's illustrations for "oliver twist".