Series Book Art.co.uk - Major update to Blyton section...

[Ian Regan]

After several weeks’ worth of scanning, processing and uploading, I have finally completed a major update to the Blyton section of my Series Book Art website.

This section now contains 577 images grouped into 62 galleries. The majority of these internal illustrations are from a variety of relatively unknown and under appreciated artists such as Dorothy Brook, Charles Stewart, Dylan Roberts and Rodney Sutton, in addition to several other individuals who were never properly credited for their work.

I have focussed my energies on documenting the artwork that was only in print for a relatively short period of time, hence my omission of the illustrations from the pervasive Knight and Dragon paperback editions. The work of people such as Betty Maxey, Mary Gernat and Jenny Chapple is already familiar to many people, due to the sheer length of time that those illustrations remained in print for (as the ‘Book Listing’ pages will testify).

The highlight of these galleries is undoubtedly the work of Charles Stewart; whose artwork is very Blyton-esque and extremely charming. Also, consider Rodney Sutton, who illustrated all 15 entries in the ‘Find-Outers’ mystery series for Armada in 1991 – his work captures the feel of the books in a way that Jenny Chapple and Mary Gernat failed to do for the more well-known Dragon releases.

I would like to thank Tony for stepping in at the last minute and providing several cover scans that I needed to complete the galleries. Tony, you’re not only a brick and a good sort, but a jolly good egg too!

Finally, I would like to thank the hapless employee at the Plymouth branch of Staples who knocked down the price of the scanner I later purchased TO 10%, as opposed to BY 10%. So, instead of forking out £144, I paid a mere £16 for a very decent scanner that has lasted the whole of this project!

Anyway, I hope everybody enjoys browsing through this plethora of wonderful artwork. I’ll leave you with my favourite illustration of all – a drawing by Rodney Sutton depicting Bets and Fatty from The Mystery of the Strange Bundle:


“I don’t like it,” said Bets, and she rushed over to Fatty. “I’m frightened. Fatty, what is it?”

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[Kate Mary]

Thanks Ian, I enjoyed browsing through those illustrations. The earliest Armada editions were the ones that got me hooked on Enid Blyton, I used to spend all my pocket money on them!

I particularly like Dorothy Brook's illustrations for The Adventurous Four, they are very atmospheric, and Charles Stewart's pictures are much better than Joseph Abbey's. I still have a few Armada books, but they weren't built to last and some of them are in a sad state, and I've replaced most of them since with hardbacks.

Kate.

[Lucky Star]

Thanks for doing those Ian. I have always liked the Mary Gernat illustrations. The Peter Archer ones for the Secret series are good too, those are the editions I had as a child. I dont really like that picture of Bets though. She looks a bit too much like a precocious modern teenager than the sweet little 1950's schoolgirl she was supposed to be. Of course I cant draw for toffee so thats just a personal opinion.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks, Ian. I had a look at some of the illustrations earlier but only had time to scratch the surface, so I'll have to return at a later date. Thanks for scanning the covers too, as it's interesting to read the blurbs on the back covers.

Anita

[Tony Summerfield]

Terrific Ian, but of course I already knew that as I have been checking the link out regularly over the past few days! When Keith can spare the time I will ask him to add it to our links page.

[Tony Summerfield]

Do you think that the 1986 Secret Series might be illustrated by Rodney Sutton, Ian? He seemed to do much of the Armada Blyton illustrating in this period. I also have a Six Cousins book credited to him. What I am not certain of, is whether he also did the cartoon type covers of that period.

[Ian Regan]

That's a very good question Tony. As far as those 'cartoony' covers are concerned, I had originally assumed that they were indeed the work of Rodney Sutton because the Book Listing entry for The Mystery That Never Was credited both the internal illustrations and cover to him. However, when I later purchased my own copy of that paperback, I found that the title page stated: "illustrated by Rodney Sutton", which I suspect actually only refers to the internal artwork.

I see that two other Armada paperbacks in the Book Listing - More Adventures on Willow Farm & The Children at Green Meadows - also credit their covers to Sutton. Do the title pages of those paperbacks definitely credit him with the cover, or are they as vague as the previous example?

Going through the Book Listing, I've made a working list of all the Armada 'cartoony' covers which appear to be by the hand of the same artist:

The Secret Island
The Secret of Spiggy Holes
The Secret Mountain
The Secret of Killimooin
The Secret of Moon Castle
The Children at Green Meadows
More Adventures on Willow Farm
Mystery Stories (2-in-1)
Adventure Stories (2-in1)
Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm
*Six Cousins Again

*(The last one doesn't appear in the Listing, but I found a cover scan of it here)

Whether Rodney Sutton is responsible for these covers is certainly up for debate. Personally I think there is quite a bit of difference between the style of these covers and Sutton's internal artwork, so I would tend to think that someone else was responsible (although I'll be happy to be proved wrong!).

The origin of the internal illustrations in the 1986 Secret paperbacks is quite something else. The drawings in Killimooin and Mountain are essentially re-drawn versions of the earlier artwork by Eileen Soper and Dylan Roberts respectively. I reckon it's entirely possible that Rodney Sutton was involved here, as he also re-imagined earlier illustrations for the Find-Outers and The Mystery That Never Was reprints.

However, the illustrations for the 1986 editions of Secret Island, Spiggy Holes and Moon Castle boast a style completely different to the other two books. I have a feeling I have seen other illustrations in a similar vein before, but I can't seem to remember where or when.

Finally, does anyone else think that the 1988 St. Clare's internals look more than a little Betty Maxey-ish?

[Anita Bensoussane]

I think that picture does look "Betty Maxey-ish," Ian, but I haven't seen any of the other internal illustrations for the 1988 St. Clare's books so I can't be at all sure.

Anita

[Ian Regan]

Anita, you can find the illustrations from the 1988 editions if you scroll down to the St. Clare's section of the Blyton index page:

http://seriesbookart.co.uk/blyton/index.php" target="_blank

I don't own any of the Famous Fives that Maxey illustrated, so would be particularly interested if someone else could do a direct comparison.

Cheers,

Ian.

[Tony Summerfield]

I think I might be guilty of making assumptions here, Ian. I can't find any Armada books that credit the cover to Rodney Sutton, but having said that they hardly ever credit the cover to anyone, except in the early editions (actually they don't often credit the illustrations at all, Rodney Sutton is an exception).

I had never seen the other Six Cousins book, but I had assumed it probably existed as I had left a gap for it in my image numbering. I have 'captured' that image and will work on it, but you always have the problems with the logo on ebay!

I may have to alter some of those listings to 'cover uncredited'!

[Tony Summerfield]

Thanks for pointing out Six Cousins Again, Ian, it is now sitting safely in the Book Listing. The first Six Cousins book is uncredited, but I have had a look at The Children at Green Meadows, which is credited to Rodney Sutton and I am pretty certain that the internal and cover art are both done by him. The question now is obviously does the cover art in this book match some of the other Armada books of the same period? I wish there were records somewhere that we could check and stop all the difficult guesswork!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Anita, you can find the illustrations from the 1988 editions if you scroll down to the St. Clare's section of the Blyton index page:

http://seriesbookart.co.uk/blyton/index.php" target="_blank

I don't own any of the Famous Fives that Maxey illustrated, so would be particularly interested if someone else could do a direct comparison.

Thanks, Ian. I've just had a look at the 1988 St. Clare's paperbacks on your site and certain things make me think you may be right that the illustrator is Betty Maxey. Some details that look rather "Betty Maxey-ish" are the sketchy indoor backgrounds for Fifth Formers, the drawing of the dog in Twins at SC, the busy pattern on Mam'zelle's blouse in O' Sullivan Twins and general things like the way the creases are drawn in characters' clothes, the detail on the jumpers, the hazy trees in the background, etc. However, since these books were printed in the late 1980s that throws me a bit as I'm used to the 1960s-70s clothing and hairstyles in Maxey's illustrations of the Famous Five. The St. Clare's characters look more modern so it's hard to say for definite that the pictures are by Betty Maxey (even though I feel there's a good chance they might be.) What do others think?

I wonder whether it would be possible to contact Betty Maxey (presuming she's still alive as I've no idea of her age)? If she did do these St. Clare's illustrations, that means she had a long association with Armada as she also illustrated Noel Streatfeild's "Gemma" series for Armada in the late 1960s. She may have some interesting stories to tell about her time with Armada and Knight, and about illustrating Blyton books. Who knows - it could possibly make a good article for the Journal or even a talk for the Enid Blyton Day!

Ian, you told us in another thread that Gordon Landsborough, who launched the Armada paperback series in the early 1960s, appointed his daughters Bonny (10) and Diana (13) to serve as editors for the series. Reading through the blurbs on the back covers of some of the early Armada books on your site just now, I thought the phrasing of the sentences in some of the book summaries sounded quite childlike and I was wondering whether the blurbs might have been written by Bonny and Diana. Take the one for the 1962 edition of The Naughtiest Girl in the School, for instance, which begins, "Elizabeth is naughty and is sent to boarding school for it. She decides not to like the school and tries to be sent home by being the naughtiest girl there." I love Dorothy Brook's vivid illustrations, by the way.

Anita

[Ian Regan]

Reading through the blurbs on the back covers of some of the early Armada books on your site just now, I thought the phrasing of the sentences in some of the book summaries sounded quite childlike and I was wondering whether the blurbs might have been written by Bonny and Diana.

Anita, that's an extremely good point about the quality of writing in the blurbs of the early Armada paperbacks. While it may have been a good idea to let Bonny and Diana choose which stories to publish, and even what artwork to be use on the covers, I must say that the idea of letting them write the summaries seems a little amateurish to me.

Some of the later blurbs from the 1970s have problems of a different kind; the summary for the 1971 edition of Spiggy Holes is far too long-winded, and gives away large chunks of the plot!

[Anita Bensoussane]

No need to read the book after that!

Must admit that, as a child, I didn't read the blurb until after I'd finished the book. I was in too much of a hurry to start the story! If a book had Enid Blyton's name on the cover, I felt sure it would be good. I didn't bother about reading titles in a series in a particular order either. If I had the money to buy a book, I was swayed mainly by the titles (The Secret of Spiggy Holes sounded much more promising than The Secret of Killimooin, even though it happened that I actually enjoyed Killimooin more once I got round to reading it) and the cover art.

How about others? Did you insist on reading the books in order, or just delve in randomly?

Anita

[Philip Mannering]

No need to read the book after that!

Must admit that, as a child, I didn't read the blurb until after I'd finished the book. I was in too much of a hurry to start the story! If a book had Enid Blyton's name on the cover, I felt sure it would be good. I didn't bother about reading titles in a series in a particular order either. If I had the money to buy a book, I was swayed mainly by the titles (The Secret of Spiggy Holes sounded much more promising than The Secret of Killimooin, even though it happened that I actually enjoyed Killimooin more once I got round to reading it) and the cover art.

How about others? Did you insist on reading the books in order, or just delve in randomly?

Anita

I personally didn't care about reading titles in order. If I had done so, I might have had to wait very very long for one title! Because, our second-hand bookstore has one title at a time, then two, then one, and then zero, and finally five. No order. Just pure random.

I read the synopsis before reading the book, because to me it was very important. As I had eight books in my hand at once when I searched for Blyton titles in the bookstore, my mother said, "Choose four. That will be enough. You can buy the remaining when we come later." Of course, I had to choose four and I chose them just because of their synopsis. It was very important.

I have to admit, that when I really got into Blyton, I didn't care a bit about the titles. I bought Five Are Together Again from a new bookstore (which had just opened) so that I could finally read that book, as I had been hunting it for days in the second-hand bookstore and hadn't got it. Well, when I finally read it, I was hugely disappointed. Why couldn't I have waited a bit longer? I thought. And believe it or not, the next time I went to the second-hand bookstore the title was there. It WAS there. Hmph.