Betty Maxey illustrations (Famous Five)

[Carlotta King]

...while I do think that Betty is a good artist, and I like her pictures, I just was never keen on the 80s clothes.

Betty Maxey must have been clairvoyant if she drew 1980s fashions, as she did her Famous Five illustrations between (I think) 1967 and 1974.

Oh dear there I go again - I should have put 70s clothes really, as that's how they looked - what I had in my mind when I wrote that was the actual covers of my 1987 Betty Maxey books, where Julian and Dick look like they should be in Duran Duran, but Betty didn't draw those - it was Andrew Lloyd-Jones, I forgot that when writing that post!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I don't like the drawing of Julian and his mother on the phone, for the simple reason it's too "1970s" with his long hair.

His mother is nicely drawn in my opinion but Julian's head is an odd shape, as though the top of his skull has been crushed flat!

[Escanor]

Wow, these are absolutely amazing, Pete! Thank you very much for your work!
Now, as promised:

19. Five Go to Demon's Rocks
http://share.pho.to/4pQAe


Which book do you want next?

[Courtenay]

where Julian and Dick look like they should be in Duran Duran...

Boy, yeah, they do, don't they?!

[Carlotta King]

I'm just looking at my version of that now, haha! I've also got Treasure Island, Adventuring Again and Finniston Farm of those versions.

[Anita Bensoussane]

...what I had in my mind when I wrote that was the actual covers of my 1987 Betty Maxey books, where Julian and Dick look like they should be in Duran Duran, but Betty didn't draw those - it was Andrew Lloyd-Jones.

At least you haven't typed Andrew Lloyd Webber by mistake, which is what I'd probably have done!

19. Five Go to Demon's Rocks
http://share.pho.to/4pQAe

Thanks for those, Escanor. I have to say Eileen Soper's illustrations for Demon's Rocks just have the edge for me as far as the children and backgrounds are concerned, but Betty Maxey's portrayal of Mischief the monkey is a hundred times better!

At the risk of being pelted with rotten eggs:



Hmm - I have to take issue with that caption!

Going back to Betty Maxey, I particularly like her drawing of Mischief sharing food with Timmy - and the one of the lighthouse with the steps leading up to it.

[Courtenay]

I've just been comparing Soper and Maxey illustrations for Five on a Treasure Island, since they're all available in the Cave. I hadn't seen Soper's illustrations for this one before (most, but not all, of the FF books we had when I was little were Maxey editions), and I have to admit, comparing them makes me appreciate all the more how much more detailed and true to the style of the books Soper's illustrations are. I love Soper's picture of George introducing her cousins to Timmy - doesn't it just capture the spirit of all five of them?



On the other hand, now that I'm old enough to recognise such things (I would have been only about 7 or 8 when I first read this book), I'm half laughing, half cringing at Maxey's Uncle Quentin looking like some kind of bad '70s pop icon!!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm half laughing, half cringing at Maxey's Uncle Quentin looking like some kind of bad '70s pop icon!!

Yes - somehow I doubt that Enid Blyton meant readers to picture Uncle Quentin as a cross between Leo Sayer and Colonel Gaddafi!

[pete9012S]

Wow, these are absolutely amazing, Pete! Thank you very much for your work!
Now, as promised:

19. Five Go to Demon's Rocks
http://share.pho.to/4pQAe


Which book do you want next?

Thank you so much for the Demon's Rocks pics Escanor- I have never ever seen them before!

The books I don't have Betty Maxey editions for and would love to see pics of are;

Five Go Off To Camp

Five Have A Mystery To Solve

Five Are Together Again


In the meantime here's another batch of pics by Betty Maxey;


4. Enid Blyton - Five Go To Smugglers Top

Betty Maxey Illustrations

http://share.pho.to/4pVi8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Regards

Pete

[Kate Mary]

I was a 1960s child so Eileen Soper was my FF artist, but I really like these Betty Maxey illustrations. When I first worked in a public library back in the early seventies I saw the Maxey editions and didn't like them then, but now they have a period charm with the flares and tank tops, Uncle Quentin is hilarious. Thanks for posting the pics, chaps.

[Anita Bensoussane]

4. Enid Blyton - Five Go To Smugglers Top

Betty Maxey Illustrations

http://share.pho.to/4pVi8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks, Pete. I hadn't seen those before. Although Betty Maxey doesn't capture the quaintness and spooky mistiness of Smuggler's Top the way Eileen Soper does, there are some attractive pictures there - the tree, Kirrin Cottage, Anne on the rope ladder, George crouching by the window...

[yarvelling]

Thanks for posting those Demon's Rocks pictures Escanor, I too had never seen them before! Betty certainly has a better handle on the monkey; isn't that modelled on a Marmoset? I think Eileen wasn't so good, but I always thought she tried to do a more 'generic' monkey - rather like the pictures of Miranda from the Barney 'R' books, which was always how I visualised those two little monkeys
I do find the picture of two playing cards quite amusing... it's hard to tell from her pictures as to who is who, but I think it's Julian and George? (Been a while since I've read it so can't remember!). If that's George who appears to be squatting awkwardly, it looks like she's checking her IPhone...!! Lol!!

[Carlotta King]

With all the ridiculous modernising going on, she may well be, soon!

[pete9012S]

16. Enid Blyton - Five Go To Billycock Hill
Betty Maxey Illustrations

http://share.pho.to/4po8Z" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[yarvelling]

16. Enid Blyton - Five Go To Billycock Hill
Betty Maxey Illustrations

http://share.pho.to/4po8Z" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh wow! Did Betty ever *read* the books, or know the plot outlines at least? Apart from a butterfly, and a piglet, there's not much else that seems to relate; it looks like the children spent their whole time wrapping up Timmy in paper, playing cards, and chatting to John Lennon!!
Ok... slight exaggeration maybe, but this series of pictures is pretty weak, and lacking any of the atmosphere that Eileen managed to portray.