The Enid Blyton Society

Well it was said that Fatty was well built and Pip was - a bit of a pip squeak? as was said in one of the books. Boys were often still in short trousers until their early teens so it is no surprise that Pip at just 13 was dressed like that. Fatty - always acting more grown up than his age and of a greater stature - would probably have looked rather silly dressed like his less mature peers.

All the boys of my age wore short trousers until at least age 11, some boys continued to wear them for a year or so after that.

Stephen wrote:'Spiteful Letters' is one of only two 1st edition/Joseph Abbey FFO books I've got, and I always thought his pictures looked a bit odd. Fatty looks like a mature teenager whereas Pip resembles a boy of about 8 in short trousers, and yet they're both supposed to be the same age!

Thanks for posting this - it's a perfect example of what I meant when I said his drawings looked like they were cobbled together from different separate drawings. None of the characters look as if they are really interacting with each other - not in proportion. As you say, it's hard to know which character is which.

I agree totally, Robert. It's most peculiar.

I thought Pip was younger than Fatty?

Joseph Abbey is probably my least favourite 'original FFO illustrator'. Treyer Evans is my favourite.

There is always something rather creepy about Abbey's portrayals of the characters, etc (especially in Pantomime Cat where Boysie in his catskin is positively scary!)

Moonraker wrote:I thought Pip was younger than Fatty?

He is. In Secret Room when they are signing a card it is stated: "Eldest first" said Pip, so Larry took up the pen. He was thirteen. "I'm next," said Fatty "I'm thirteen next week. You're not thirteen till the New Year Pip."

But not as young as the boy in the illustration appears to be! Mind you, his face makes him look about 80!

I agree Robert - it's a pretty awful illustration altogether.

Another thing I've noticed with J Abbey is how often he used the same basic illustration and altered it slightly - what I would call 'lazy illustrating' LOL. For example, in the original J Abbey DW for 'Burnt Cottage' there's a depiction of Goon with his hand behind his head holding a note book. Abbey used this illustration of Goon again on page 3 of Burnt Cottage, with his arm in a different position, then used it yet again with slight changes, for the cover of Pantomime Cat, and also used it in an illustration on page 137 of 'Missing Necklace'!

It's also interesting that Pantomime Cat was the last time Enid used J Abbey as illustrator for the Find Outers. Was this because he died or was ill, or was it that Enid hadnt approved of the scary looking depiction of the pantomime cat?!

That's interesting, Robert. I wonder what else Joseph Abbey illustrated in his career besides the Find-Outers titles for Enid Blyton, and whether the same faces, figures and buildings crop up there with a few changes.

Abbey - Artist Illustrator
Below is a list of detective fiction / mystery dust jackets illustrated by Abbey
They are listed alphabetically by author surname
If the title is hyperlinked in blue
Just click on it to view a picture of the Abbey dustwrapper

There has been some confusion in regards to Abbey, there were actually two brothers
S. Abbey and J. Abbey, their full and real names are Salomon Van Abbe (1883-1955) and Joseph Van Abbe
Their work was often not prefixed by their initial to further confuse things
Salomon also worked under the name C. Morse

http://www.classiccrimefiction.com/abbey.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

See also

Salomon van Abbé was noted for his drypoints of the legal profession and the law. He signed much of his commercial work as an illustrator “Abbey” or “S. Abbey”, to distinguish himself from his brother Joseph van Abbé (b 1889, d 1954), who signed himself “J. Abbey”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salomon_van_Abb%C3%A9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The covers are loading slowly or sometimes not at all for me, Pete, but that's interesting about the two van Abbés.

not to make this a 'get at J Abbey' thread but I also noticed, in early editions of 'Burnt Cottage' that Abbey includes a study of all the child characters with Buster in the middle - not badly drawn, but then later in the book, on page 73 there's an illustration using two of the character portraits again, giving them the definite appearance of just being inserted into the main picture, out of proportion, and not even observing what's happening in the rest of the picture!

I just had a look at the Burnt Cottage illustrations in the Cave and I see what you mean!