The Enid Blyton Society

Rob Houghton wrote:I don't agree about Eileen Soper's illustrations being 'artistically' or 'technically' superior to other illustrators.

You've certainly given me food for thought there Rob!

You do happen to have picked one of Soper's best Famous Five illustrations here. Some are obviously better than others!

Here's one example - Mr Penruthlan's face is carelessly drawn - in fact the whole of him is just a scribble of lines. Then there's Julian's face - only half completed, as with most of the children's chins and upper lips, as well as George's oddly-shaped bust, and the back of George's chair, which can hardly be destinguished from Mr Penruthlan's trousers. -



Okay, I'm being picky - and Eileen Soper's illustrations are always full of atmosphere...but she, like Betty Maxey, doesn't always complete her lines, and often leaves hurried blank spaces - for which Maxey is criticised!

Betty Maxey's Mr Penruthlan...

First edition: 1985
Publisher: Purnell
Illustrator: Uncredited

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


Just bought this from Amazon for £2.80

It looks good, Pete, and a bargain at £2.80.

Even though Betty Maxey uses less lines, and sometimes I feel her illustrations are a bit 'flat' - her rendering of Mr Penruthlan seems easier on the eye, in my view.

Eileen Soper's 1953 cover compared with Betty Maxey's 1969 edition

ps.I'm never sure which is the correct way round for this particular Maxey cover!!

I have to admit when it comes to the Soper covers and the Maxey covers I like both equally. Eileen Soper's colour work was always great, but Betty Maxey's covers were superb also, in my view. I like the fact that Maxey makes the books look exciting and a little more 'adult'. They are worlds away from the present covers, which don't show anything exciting at all, and often don't even seem to relate to the plot of the book in any way!

Interesting that the Maxey cover was reversed! I have the version on the right!

Talking of Eileen Soper, I get the impression that her illustrations for the earlier FF books tended to be a fair bit more carefully drawn and detailed, whereas in the later books, they seem to look noticeably more rushed and scribbly, like the Mr Penruthlan example Rob has shared. I wonder if she had less time to spare on the later books — or maybe she was even getting a little tired of illustrating the Famous Five and took less care with her artwork than she did before... Has anyone else noticed this?

pete9012S wrote:

First edition: 1985
Publisher: Purnell
Illustrator: Uncredited

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


Just bought this from Amazon for £2.80

I quite like the front cover of that annual, Pete.

Courtenay wrote:Talking of Eileen Soper, I get the impression that her illustrations for the earlier FF books tended to be a fair bit more carefully drawn and detailed, whereas in the later books, they seem to look noticeably more rushed and scribbly, like the Mr Penruthlan example Rob has shared. I wonder if she had less time to spare on the later books — or maybe she was even getting a little tired of illustrating the Famous Five and took less care with her artwork than she did before... Has anyone else noticed this?

See what your chums over at S&R say:

Eileen Soper:
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”

https://www.stellabooks.com/article/eileen-soper" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for that quote, Pete. I was thinking of that when I made my earlier comments. It always makes me think that Eileen didn't rate her Famous Five work as very important. When I first read what she thought of this sort of work, I'm afraid my opinion of her went down a notch or two!

A very interesting post, Pete. Thanks for sharing it.

I'd read it somewhere else a while back...but can't remember where! Maybe a Journal?