Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Enid used many illustrators in her books. Discuss them here.
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by Moonraker »

I would say it is a matter of one's own opinion. One man's meat is another man's poison! :D
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by pete9012S »

I like 'em both as you all well know.
But,the Soper illustrations belong to a different age to me.Betty Maxey was obviously of her time,and was most likely enlisted to update the Five.
Otherwise,why bother to have new illustrations at all!

But when does everyone feel the 'cut off' point was between the Illustrations in Enid's books after the Golden Age of her work?

Does the Enid Blyton Silver Age begin with Betty Maxey ? When did her illustrations pop up for the very first time?
Was it in 1970?
Does the Silver Age thus begin in 1970?
Or would it be more logical to say the Enid Blyton Golden Age ended in 1963 with the publication of The Last Famous Five Book??

Marvel Comics,Spiderman/Thor/Avengers and DC Comics,Superman/Batman etc all have distinct acknowledged ages.

What years would you say typify Enid Blytons Gold/Silver/Bronze age? It gets a little difficult with Enid doesn't it as she produced work from the 1920's to the 1960's.

I would not classify her 1920's and 1930's work as her Golden Age personally-more like her pre Golden Age maybe?
Her Golden Age,for me,would start with the Secret Island (1938) and continue until....when...well,what do you think?
And also,when did her Silver Age begin? (A time when she was still churning out product-but like Agatha Christie in her later years,not up to the same high standards that made her Golden Age work stand out from the crowd??)
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by pete9012S »

Here's someone who seems to prefer Betty's work...

But it’s Maxey’s that have the edge - particularly in Five Have A Wonderful Time which combines a circus, a deserted castle and gypsy caravans! Above, George and the others dodge a giant python in a dungeon, and Julian and Dick meet ‘Bufflo’ the clown.

There’s real peril in Maxey’s work – George has really met her match in the threatening young man here (that bomber jacket surely signals trouble!) In fact all the children seem that bit older and more real, less cartoon-like. Particularly Anne – the sensitive one who liked home-making and nature and always my childhood favourite. In the 1940s she’s plucky in her gaberdine coat - watching a villain fall to his fate here - but definitely the baby. By the 1970s she’s been updated to much more practical jeans and a jumper – a look NB coveted deeply and still remembers faded flares and a tie-dye zip-up hoodie with pride!
http://newbarbara.tumblr.com/post/33772782899" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by Carlotta King »

I don't think it's a bomber jacket, surely it's a waistcoat over a white shirt-type thing?

I actually really like the thwarted Errol Flynn baddie! Eileen's illustrations are fab.
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by Domino »

I don't think it's a waistcoat, Cathy; more of a gilet. i know both are sleeveless but......

And what is 'a white shirt type thing'? Surely a white shirt is a white shirt is a white shirt!

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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by Carlotta King »

I was just meaning that it seems to be some kind of white cotton garment such as fair folk would perhaps be seen wearing underneath their waistcoats/gilets.
Not a proper white shirt that a businessman, for example, would be seen wearing, with a proper collar and buttons down the front, but just a looser shirt/smock with an open neck and perhaps more voluminous sleeves, as fair folk are often depicted as wearing.

Probably the fact that it was ten past one in the morning didn't help my descriptive skills! :)
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by Moonraker »

I knew what you meant, Cathy! :D
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by Carlotta King »

Thanks Nigel! :D
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by Escanor »

Pardon me for dropping in like this, but do you happen to know where I could find scans of Betty Maxey's illustrations of the Famous Five series?
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by pete9012S »

I've scanned a few and posted them on this thread over a few pages,starting from about half way down this page here... :D

ps I think you have to be logged on to facebook though to view them.

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... &start=120" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by Escanor »

These are actually pretty awesome! Thank you Pete! :mrgreen:

Will you do more in the future?
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by pete9012S »

Thanks.Is there a book you'd particularly like to see?
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by Escanor »

Well, my first five FF books are the only ones that don't have Maxey's illustrations. I've got the first one covered here.
I'll share some of mine when I can, probably open a new topic about it. :wink:
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by pete9012S »

Despite the undying universal love of everyone towards Eileen Soper,I was surprised to read that:
It was not until 1941 that her career as a book illustrator took off when the publishers Macmillan suggested her name to Enid Blyton , firstly for a series of Nature Readers. But it was the commission to illustrate Five on a Treasure Island , presumably made at Blyton’s insistence, that made Soper’s name. She went on to illustrate 35 books for Blyton over 25 years. The two were never to meet and it was reported by Eileen’s friends that she considered the illustrations of Blyton’s books “hack work” and “a chore”. She also complained that the author was a menace, in that she demanded “footling changes in drawings that were already adequate”.
http://www.blytonbooks.co.uk/articles/soper.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't know how much truth there is in all that,and I also have no idea how Betty Maxey felt about illustrating The Famous Five for the Knight editions?
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Re: Eileen Soper or Betty Maxey?

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Maybe Eileen Soper felt overwhelmed at the amount of Famous Five work she had to do over the years? She illustrated some books twice (for the magazine version and then the book version) as well as doing the illustrations for things like jigsaws, notepaper and games. And then there was the non-Five work she did for assorted short stories, other novels, picture books, the nature plates, etc.

It's funny that the article says, "The two were never to meet." I have the book Wildings by Duff Hart-Davis, and Hart-Davis says that "the two women met several times, and exchanged countless letters" (p. 51).

Duff Hart-Davis details a few criticisms of Eileen's artwork for Enid Blyton but the criticisms seem to have come as much from publishers like Paul Hodder-Williams and Harry Cowdell as from Enid herself.
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