Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Enid used many illustrators in her books. Discuss them here.
Green Hedges
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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by Green Hedges »

Shame I missed Bridie's original post and this thread until tonight. I live not far from Dundee and would have liked to have seen this exhibition of Gilbert Dunlop's work.

Paul Norman's review of my book Looking for Enid, which is now online (see another thread re Gateway monthly in the 'Author' section of Forums), mentions how much pleasure he got from The Rockingdown Mystery both as a child and when reading it again as an adult. It is indeed a particularly fine piece of Blyton adventure-writing (see Anita's excellent review of it in the Book Listing on this site), helped in no small way by Gilbert Dunlop's very atmospheric drawings, particularly of the characters' exploration of Rockingdown Hall. The book was published in 1949. I can't help wondering if GD had read Mervyn Peake's neo-Gothic masterpiece Titus Groan which was published in 1946. Peake's follow-up to this book in 1950 was a second volume in what was to be a trilogy, the equally magnificent Gormenghast. Again the book is about a crumbling castle, but this time the fascinating character Steerpike has a monkey called Satan in tow for some of the time. Whereas Barnabas (keeper of Miranda monkey) is described by Enid as a striking looking boy with wide-set bright blue eyes, Steerpike's eyes are red and his forehead shines like an iceberg. Both characters are pretty striking then! If there was any influence between the various parties it could conceivably have been like this:

1. Gilbert Dunlop sees the cover of Titus Groan in a shop and realises he simply must buy this book (The cover was drawn by Peake himself and these is a 1st edition with beautiful dustcover currently advertised on abebooks for £130, if I remember rightly, and with a scan of the image which you can click on.) Gilbert reads the book and the gothic imagery that saturates the text seeps into his mind.

2. Enid writes The Rockingdown Mystery in her usual clear, rhythmic, dynamic - and in an unusually atmospheric - way.

3. GD realises that in illustrating Rockingdown he can make good use of his Peake-influenced Gothic interest in several of his illustrations to chapters.

4. Peake comes across The Rockingdown Mystery (perhaps on the lookout for books for his son Sebastian who would have been 9 in 1949) and is struck by the Dunlop drawings and by the powerful Blyton scene-setting, in particular the Barnabas and Miranda exploration of Rockingdown Hall. Under the influence of Enid and GD, Peake introduces the monkey motif towards the end of his writing of Gormenghast.

This is all wild speculation, of course! Not much of it could be proved or disproved nowadays. Still, perhaps a relative of Gilbert Dunlop would be able to say whether they knew of any interest of his in the Mervyn Peake books. Bridie?
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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by Kate Mary »

Although being more familiar with the Gilbert Dunlop illustrations for "The Boy Next Door", it's great to see the Alfred Bestall pictures too. I love his style and one almost expects to see Bill Badger, Algy Pug or Rupert himself in the background. Thanks for that, Tony, always a treat to see Bestall's work.

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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by yarvelling »

Lenoir wrote:Looking at the spines of the dust wrappers of 'Rat a tat' and 'Ragamuffin', Anyon Cook’s Snubby is very similar to Gilbert Dunlop’s Snubby (in this instance).

Looking at the other illustrations in Rat a Tat, it seems to me as if Anyon Cook tried to make the characters look as close to the originals as was possible.

Well here I go again - bringing back another old thread and waking it up! :D
You are right Lenoir, the Anyon Cook illustrations in the book are pretty good; I think she did certainly try to copy Gilbert Dunlops' style, and I think she succeeded! Whilst not as good, they are certainly quite evocative of the novel.
Gilbert Dunlop on the other hand is another of my favourites! His use of light and shade in just the two-tone monochrome pen and ink drawings is magnificent; really conjuring the dark and slightly scary atmosphere of the setting. Also, his clever way with architecture makes the building, wall, tunnel, etc. really come alive.
I've just finished Rockingdown again and his depictions of the old house really add weight to Enid's already impressive descriptions of the gloomy, depressed air of the dark, dusty house.
His depictions of the main characters is superb; they look just as I'd imagine them from the texts, and his illustrations of Loony and Miranda are wonderful, and very comical! :)
A superb illustrator, of a very underrated series of books! :)
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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I've always been impressed by Gilbert Dunlop's illustrations too. Bold, sweeping lines and striking contrasts between light and shadow. His pictures are exactly right for the Barney Mysteries with their strong, emotional storylines.
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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by Chrissie777 »

yarvelling wrote: Well here I go again - bringing back another old thread and waking it up! :D
Yarvelling, please keep doing that.
Truly enjoyed reading this old thread. I'm also a big fan of Dunlap's R series illustrations.
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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by yarvelling »

Thanks Chrissie :) I was specifically looking to see if anyone had opened a thread about Dunlop's work, otherwise I was going to! :) Glad to see this one is here though ;)
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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by yarvelling »

Just to progress this thread a little further! :)
I'm currently reading and thoroughly enjoying "Ring O Bells Mystery".
A story that calls for some illustrations that call for something a little different; the whole story being steeped in history and a magical, fairy-tale air allows the drawings to reflect that 'magical' atmosphere, and so characters are depicted in a wonderful manner, and some of the scenic illustrations are quite superb! Old Mother Barlow's cottage is glorious and mysterious, Ring O Bells Hall is a wonderful concoction; especially when seen at night, and a particularly striking drawing is when the children first venture into the secret passage that is hidden in the Hall. The drawing is simply drawn; very bold and deft strokes, but done in such a way that it almost resembles an ancient 15th century woodcut - the way the walls are depicted, and the outline and shadow of the characters.... quite superb!! :)
It's worth going and having a look back in the library here at this book, and expanding the link at the foot of the page to see these illustrations again! The one in the secret passage is so simple, yet so very striking and atmospheric!
Gilbert Dunlop was a great artist, who really understood his medium and subject matter - much like Stuart Tresilian, and Eileen Soper... :)
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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by Daisy »

I'm reading Ring o' Bells too and quite agree how well the Dunlop illustrations enhance the story for me.
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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by Poppy »

My favourite Dunlop illustration/ front cover is the Rubadub Mystery it shows so many brilliant styles and atmospheres all at once. He children of course, and their much larger shadows! The atmospheric old buildings and inn - you can see better on the entire dustwrapper. Great colours too - you can just see the starry sky between the nice old buildings.

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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I love that atmospheric dustwrapper design too, Poppy - and the glorious one for The Rilloby Fair Mystery which is so joyous and full of detail.
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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by yarvelling »

The cover for 'Rubadub'; which I've now just started, is another superb example!
It reminds me very much of the old 1920's arty German films too, with their use of long-thrown shadows and slightly exaggerated movements ; films such as "The Cabinet Of Dr Calligary", and FW Murnau's original "Dracula"..... I wonder if that's the sort of look; dark and mysterious, that Gilbert Dunlop was going for with this one! :)
My copy of the book is a 195 second print and has the full wrap-a-round dust cover in place, in excellent condition; it's a lovely thing to see in all it's glory! I've often wondered why the paperbacks of the 60's and 70's didn't use the front panel as the cover illustrations from this series of books.
I never liked the illustrations too much that were used; I believe they were mostly by Mary Gernat? The only one for me that was an improvement was the 'Rat-A-Tat' paperback with a much nicer painting of the snow and helicopter scene; very detailed and realistic, although sadly it had been modernised, with a much more modern helicopter, and the children in jeans!
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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by Chrissie777 »

Poppy wrote:My favourite Dunlop illustration/ front cover is the Rubadub Mystery it shows so many brilliant styles and atmospheres all at once. He children of course, and their much larger shadows! The atmospheric old buildings and inn - you can see better on the entire dustwrapper. Great colours too - you can just see the starry sky between the nice old buildings.

Image
Hi Poppy,

If you click on this link and scroll very little down, then you'll see the backside of the dustwrapper as well:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... ub+Mystery" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by John Pickup »

I've got this dustwrapper and it's probably the best of Gilberts. The whole wrapper would look lovely framed and hung on the wall.
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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by Chrissie777 »

I did that once with a fold out map from a British crime novel ("Landscape of Lies" by Peter Watson, almost like a Famous Five novel for adults). I went to a copy shop and got a larger sized color copy of the old treasure map which I had framed. Now it's hanging on one of our guestroom walls. Everybody who stayed over night inquired about this map :).
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Re: Gilbert Dunlop - Illustrator

Post by yarvelling »

What a brilliant idea!! :)
I'd be interested to see what the map looks like :)
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