The Famous Five Illustrators Compared

[Rob Houghton]

The Five as depicted in Mystery and Suspense Magazine (1997) - based on the TV series -

[Anita Bensoussane]

Lovely illustrations from Mystery and Suspense, full of colour and atmosphere. Some artwork from that magazine was reproduced in the recent Famous Five Annuals.

[pete9012S]

[Rob Houghton]

I'm not quite so keen on that Annual artist. Not bad, but I think the earlier ones were better.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Looking at the American illustations, the building - ranch house, if very American, whereas we'd have a farm.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm not quite so keen on that Annual artist. Not bad, but I think the earlier ones were better.

I too prefer some of the other artwork but I do like this style as it reminds me of some of the coloured illustrations in other annuals which I had as a child, e.g. Diana, Bunty, Mandy, Judy and June.

[Rob Houghton]

Looking at the American illustations, the building - ranch house, if very American, whereas we'd have a farm.

I agree - that's what i find fascinating about the American illustrations. And the old man looks very American somehow, too!

[pete9012S]

1st American edition published by Thomas Y. Crowell in 1951
illustrated by Vera Neville

View in larger size:
http://imgur.com/a/R405C" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Courtenay]

Thanks for those, Pete. Interesting that both those American edition blurbs are written with a focus on "Georgina" as if the books are written largely from her perspective, whereas certainly in Five on a Treasure Island, the focus at first is mainly on Julian, Dick and Anne as they gradually get to know their initially mysterious and stand-offish cousin. Even odder to see "But when Timothy, a friendly, lively dog, joined their group..." — almost as if George didn't know Timmy in the first place and he suddenly appeared from nowhere! Engagingly written blurbs, but they do make me wonder how carefully the blurb-writer had read the books...

[pete9012S]

The UK early edition blub..

[Rob Houghton]

I love the look of Five Go Adventuring Again, American style. The illustrations are great - except I'm not keen on the way the illustrator has the characters looking out of the illustration - I'd always rather they were caught up in the action, rather than staring at the reader! I like the older more teenage look the illustrator gives The Five - because this is how I have always pictured them. I find it hard to see them as 'preteen' myself.

Its also a nicely produced book, with the detail of the 'map' on the back and on the title page etc. I've seen this book for sale a few times but have never studied it in any detail.

[pete9012S]

Illustrator: Laura Ellen Anderson

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... e+Treasury" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[pete9012S]

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book ... uring+Book" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Daisy]

Good grief! The Treasury one is terrible... and a dark haired Julian (I presume) reminds me of Harry Potter. So windswept and unkempt - not at all how they would have been, I'm sure!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks for the scans of the American books, Pete. The illustrations are quite attractive and the blurbs are full of enthusiasm but it's strange to hear the Five being referred to as "the Fives".

Thanks too to Tony for putting the The Famous Five Treasury and The Famous Five Classic Colouring Book in the Cave. Laura Ellen Anderson's depiction of the characters (The Famous Five Treasury) is rather too cartoonish for my taste but the colours have a lovely "sunlight-drenched" look and the trees frame the picture in an appealing way, so the overall effect is eye-catching. It'll be interesting to see what material has been chosen and how it has been arranged.

The Famous Five Classic Colouring Book looks great - a fun product and something different!